I spoke at length to a BOD member this week and will be speaking to him again in the coming weeks and then hopefully dinner at the PDAC. The BOD has been promised performance by Clevenger and they are asking questions after the recent flat Q4 due to some metalurgy issues with the circuit and some labour issues as mentioned. It sounds to me like some pressure is being applied and if production doesn't get back to a growth path shortly then some changes may have to be made. I was also assured money is not an issue anytime soon and more detailed discussion may be released with the coming financial report. Of course we both agreed the ramp development is critical for large future production increases but the existing infrastructure should allow at least 700 tpd and I didn't get an answer why we weren't there other than David Drips trying to use only the highest grade ore and mining only partial veins instead of the whole vein which he should be in my view. This attempt to selectively mine the veins in open stopes is a mistake from what I believe and understand.

I also expect continued further asset sales as suggested by others and the company which will increase capital and help focus resources to those assets with the greatest longer term upside and reduce risk of capital mis-allocation which can be an issue in emerging producer junior companies.

I sensed nor detected any underlying agenda that would be contrary to shareholder interests from my discussions and found this director receptive to my concerns and planning a site visit shortly to Velardena. I was somewhat aggressive and detailed in my questioning and covered many more bases than anyone has mentioned here but didn't address any subject matter pertaining to any kind of internal conspiracy to undermine shareholders by deliberately messing with mill production. I don't want to denigrate anyones view but I would be not only shocked but totally blown away by any kind of internal agenda along these lines.

It's one thing to consider the cartel criminals can manipulate the CRIMEX paper for a period of time due to free and large amounts of capital (not endless) but quite another to suggest they have support inside gold/silver companies to deliberately suppress the commodity price they sell their production for and/or negatively effect production outcomes. In my view this is non-starter and would be highkly unlikely.

I'm not talking about Vancouver promo jobbers who screw people with junior stories that have no legit assets or not much future potential or fake results, etc., these exist for sure and always have and will continue. I woud argue real companies with real assets and real cash from major investors who wrote cheques do not undermine their companies to sell or make them fail.

BTW, I heard some favourable comments recently that came from Rick Rule of Sprott on his view of Clevenger. I don't know what position Sprott presently has in Golden (they had a good size psotion as of Sept 2012 report period) and won't know until the next reports due out in about 2 weeks for the Oct-Dec period of 2012.

I would love to say the mill circuit is back to normal after being messed up by the operator and that labour issues are resolved but I can't because I don't know the answer to these questions, I can say I will keep trying to get more info and expressing my concerns to those in responsible positions at Golden as we all should since we are shareholders. I encourage everyone to call the company and talk to whoever they can or know or ask for Clevenger and express your view and ask your questions.

Of course I remain very long this story and still think the underlying resource assets are excellent, cash position is strong and expect production to get back on growth track shortly. I have also been told by someone that I trust who knows the company well that their info is that Golden may be operationally cash flow neutral by end of March 2013, I would like to see this confirmed.