the only damage done was the delay in building the pirquitas mine and bringing it to profitability. had the company found and initially hired a competent operations manager, they may have brought pirquitas into production on schedule. if the company were profitable, with positive earnings per share, i expect the stock would be re-rated, and more institutions would be bidding up the share price.

as an example, first majestic shares were just under $1 two years ago (i remember because i bought a few thousand shares back then) when it looked like the world was coming to an end. they didnt stumble over any production issues, and tomorrow their shares are going to move to the nyse, and the stock now trades at $14.

so once silver standard gets its act together, we can expect substantial appreciation with silver around $30/ounce. of course it isnt all bad news. if the pirquitas mine had been in full production on schedule, they would have sold a lot more of their silver at $13 instead of near $30/oz now.