Thank you for reading: <<Now is the time to show your "mettle".>>

I believe getting the best value for money spent is in ALL our best interests. Whether it’s money saved (thru the simple constraint of eliminating or reducing Director’s Compensation) or earned through the sale of minerals at Golden Minerals. (which isn’t happening as much as it should be.)

Cost improvement and delivering projects under way are what most companies are trying to do,,,,but that is their job!! Past equipment delivery, delays that should have been factored in and planned for with contingency operations were not effective as envisioned. Was there no Project Management work done by AUM executives? The whole company is supposed to be working towards mining profitability and it seems that they aren’t.

According to some authors, some junior mining companies are just not succeeding and according to some of them have the potential that they "go under". I don't want AUM to go under as I have money vested here. I am sure many readers here do too. It's just getting too expensive for me to see so much money "blown" on high-end compensations as the value of minerals mined, profits garnered and share values are not up to my expectations. I have hated seeing the value of our AUM shares drop since ECU was swallowed up only a few short years ago.

Shake your head and ask what is really being done to alleviate the haemorrhaging???

Did you not read what Management quoted in their Press Release forecasts and what the price of gold and silver bullion are lately?

Tongue-in-cheek, I presented a top-down approach to cost-savings compared to fire the worker-bee approach as an idea to save a couple hundred thousand dollars off the AUM bottom line.

If you have a better idea to save money please post it. (I just wanted to run with it. After this my tirade on cost-cutting will be over,,, for awhile.)

Director Compensations in most mining companies must be cut decisively. Annual Fees, monies for Executive Officers to attend meetings, share-based awards such as warrants, non-equity incentive plans, salaries, bonuses, liability insurances for them, etc.. given out and issued must be monitored by us the minority shareholder. We need a grassroots movement to stop the financial bleeding. I don't want to be disrespectful to the AUM seniors; as I am one too, but I decided to retire (at 55) after mentoring my replacements. I had several decades of experience, too. Sometimes it is just the right time to do the right thing.

I am delighted to see young and talented Operational staff hit the stopes. I just wish that one of the Alpha Dogs would leave so more talent could be afforded to take their place.

Mentoring is an activity that does not need financial compensation. It takes devotion knowing that the reward is coming. I want to see talented younger folks doing AUM jobs and then have them steer this mining company back to profitability.

The AUM cost-improvement diet, whatever that is, doesn’t seem to be working. Don’t wait till this company needs open heart double bypass surgery to do something drastic because by then there will be no blood ($$) left or the transfusion ($$) not available.

Fix the bleeding with an amputation and cauterization. Get on with life.