Agoracom: Small Cap Investment - Golden Minerals Company

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Golden Minerals is a junior silver producer with a strong growth profile, listed on both the NYSE Amex and TSX.

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News

posted on Oct 22, 2010 10:39AM

ECU Silver Reports Gold and Silver Shipments and Production in Third Quarter

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Oct. 22, 2010) - ECU Silver Mining Inc. (TSX:ECU) ("ECU" or the "Company") is pleased to announce silver and gold output for third quarter of 2010 ("Q3 2010") from its mining operations at Velardena in Durango State, Mexico.

Shipments for Q3 2010 consisted of 72,264 ounces of silver; 5,988 ounces of gold; 141,215 pounds of lead; and 65,616 pounds of zinc. Expressed in terms of silver equivalent ounces, and based on current commodity prices (see Table 1 below), the Company shipped 418,553 silver equivalent ounces ("AgEq oz") during this period. Compared to the second quarter of 2010 (Q2 2010), silver shipments decreased by 36%, gold shipments increased by 157%, lead shipments increased by 106% and zinc shipments decreased by 30%. On a silver equivalent basis, shipments increased by 66%.

Table 1 - Shipments                                                         
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              Commodity Price      Metal Shipped   Silver Equivalent Shipped
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silver             $23.93 /oz          72,264 oz                   72,264 oz
Gold                $1346 /oz           5,988 oz                  336,809 oz
Lead                $1.10 /lb         141,215 lb                    6,491 oz
Zinc                $1.09 /lb          65,616 lb                    2,989 oz
Total                                                             418,553 oz

In Q3 2010 the operations generated silver totalling 95,324 ounces and gold totalling 2,137 ounces. In addition, the mines generated 222,184 pounds of lead and 221,831 pounds of zinc. Expressed in terms of silver equivalent ounces, and based on current commodity prices (see Table 2 below), total metal output was 235,842 AgEq oz.

Table 2 - Mill Operations                                                   
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              Commodity Price       Metal Output    Silver Equivalent Output
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silver             $23.93 /oz          95,324 oz                   95,324 oz
Gold                $1346 /oz           2,137 oz                  120,201 oz
Lead                $1.10 /lb         222,184 lb                   10,213 oz
Zinc                $1.09 /lb         221,831 lb                   10,104 oz
Total                                                             235,842 oz

Mineralized material mined for silver and gold averaged 112 g/t and 2.69 g/t, respectively, a decrease of 17.6% for silver and 10% for gold compared to the first six months of 2010 while milling grades averaged 95 g/t and 2.22 g/t for silver and gold, respectively, an increase of 6.7% for silver and decrease of 24.4% for gold compared to the first six months of 2010.

During the quarter, the Company sold 5,961 tonnes of gold/pyrite concentrate containing 3,999 ounces of gold. The sales of the gold/pyrite offset some of the lower mine production which resulted from the Company testing several exploration areas, notably the Chicago areas where vein extensions and new veins were discovered (see 2010 press releases dated October 7, August 31 and August 25). In addition, the Company increased the inventory of mineralized material at the mine by focusing more on development to enhance future production. In Q2 2010, a total of 9,489 tonnes of development material (lower grades than stopes) was mined while in Q3 2010, a total of 18,240 tonnes of development material was mined which provides the Company with the possibility to increase production from stopes for much better milling results in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Michel Roy, CEO and Chairman stated, "We continue to be pleased with operations at the oxide mill with tonnage running above design capacity. We have advanced our underground development in order to ramp up our sulphide operations and bring the sulphide mill up to its design capacity of 320 tonnes per day. Once complete, the two mills will be operating at a combined rate of up to 900 to 1,000 tonnes per day."

Stephen Altmann, President added, "Through our mining activities, we have gained additional insights into our mineral resources and have also gained additional access to the undeveloped portion of our mineral resource. We expect to use this knowledge to upgrade our inferred resources into measured and indicated and we also expect to significantly increase the size of our mineral resource as we continue exploration efforts within the Velardena area.

About ECU Silver

ECU Silver Mining Inc. is focused on the exploration, development and mining of gold, silver and base metals at its Velardena District Properties in Durango, Mexico. The Company holds a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource of 40 million silver equivalent ounces in the measured and indicated category and 391 million silver equivalent ounces in the inferred category. The Company also owns two mills with a combined capacity of 820 tonnes per day. ECU's mission is to become a pre-eminent silver and gold producer through the development of its existing and potential mineral resources at Velardena

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