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GOLDEN, CO–(Marketwire – Dec 8, 2011) – Golden Minerals Company (NYSE Amex:AUMN) (TSX:AUM) (“Golden Minerals” or “the Company”) is pleased to provide additional assay results from the Company’s drilling program at the Yaxtché deposit on the El Quevar project, located in the Salta Province in northwestern Argentina.
Recent infill drilling at the west Yaxtché deposit, located on the 58,000 hectare El Quevar project, continues to intersect high grade silver with relatively wide intercepts. Drill hole QVD-344 contained 11 meters of 467 grams per tonne silver, including two meters of 1,204 grams per tonne. Drill hole QVD-348 contained 16 meters of 889 grams per tonne silver, including 11 meters of 1,160 grams per tonne. Drill hole QVD-352 contained 26 meters of 535 grams per tonne silver, including three meters of 1,046 grams per tonne, and an additional six meter intercept of 1,151 grams per tonne.
Jeffrey Clevenger, Golden Minerals Chairman, President and CEO, commented, “We continue to be encouraged by the drilling of relatively wide, high grade silver intercepts at the Yaxtché deposit.” In addition, Mr. Clevenger noted, “This further suggests that the Yaxtché deposit may be amenable to bulk mining, which data from the current infill drilling program is designed to support.”
Bulk mining could include a potential open pit on the east and central areas of the Yaxtché deposit, along with bulk underground mining in the west. In addition to the surface infill drilling, an underground drill program has been developed for the east and central Yaxtché deposit, with a 1,300 meter fan drilling program planned for the next several months.
The surface infill drilling is part of up to a 50 hole diamond core drilling program on the Yaxtché deposit, which is the main zone at the El Quevar project. The Company has received assay results for 16 holes to date, with assays pending for an additional 13 holes.
Select drill intercepts for the 16 drill holes for which assays have been received and quality assurance/quality control (“QA/QC”) verified, are provided below. Four of the holes shown on the following table were drilled outside of the mineralized zone and did not show any significant results.
| DRILL HOLE NO. | FROM (meters) | TO (meters) | INTERVAL (meters) | Ag (grams/tonne) |
| Yaxtché West Zone | ||||
| QVD-337 | No significant results | |||
| QVD-338 | 232 | 243 | 11 | 173 |
| Including | 235 | 237 | 2 | 513 |
| and | 254 | 258 | 4 | 501 |
| QVD-339 | 266 | 271 | 5 | 207 |
| QVD-340 | No significant results | |||
| QVD-341 | 244 | 246 | 2 | 295 |
| and | 254 | 257 | 3 | 151 |
| and | 268 | 272 | 4 | 220 |
| and | 279 | 281 | 2 | 385 |
| and | 284 | 294 | 10 | 211 |
| and | 309 | 322 | 13 | 440 |
| including | 317 | 321 | 4 | 878 |
| and | 355 | 360 | 5 | 136 |
| QVD-342 | 237 | 262 | 25 | 653 |
| including | 239 | 249 | 10 | 1168 |
| QVD-343 | 267 | 269 | 2 | 294 |
| and | 277 | 282 | 5 | 215 |
| and | 295 | 312 | 17 | 252 |
| including | 298 | 301 | 3 | 862 |
| QVD-344 | 275 | 277 | 2 | 594 |
| and | 289 | 300 | 11 | 467 |
| including | 293 | 295 | 2 | 1204 |
| and | 322 | 326 | 4 | 175 |
| and | 353 | 355 | 3 | 327 |
| QVD-345 | No significant results | |||
| QVD-346 | 233 | 243 | 10 | 401 |
| and | 253 | 256 | 3 | 244 |
| and | 272 | 274 | 2 | 285 |
| and | 278 | 279 | 1 | 853 |
| and | 298 | 303 | 5 | 148 |
| QVD-347 | 320 | 329 | 9 | 216 |
| and | 389 | 391 | 2 | 324 |
| QVD-348 | 243 | 248 | 5 | 632 |
| and | 253 | 254 | 1 | 311 |
| and | 262 | 263 | 1 | 1113 |
| and | 334 | 350 | 16 | 889 |
| including | 339 | 350 | 11 | 1160 |
| and | 365 | 370 | 5 | 329 |
| QVD-349 | No significant results | |||
| QVD-350 | 297 | 308 | 11 | 285 |
| QVD-351 | 300 | 315 | 15 | 309 |
| QVD-352 | 245 | 271 | 26 | 535 |
| including | 245 | 248 | 3 | 1046 |
| and | 256 | 262 | 6 | 1151 |
| and | 268 | 271 | 3 | 158 |
| and | 280 | 281 | 1 | 390 |
| and | 285 | 287 | 2 | 207 |
| and | 299 | 301 | 2 | 289 |
| and | 323 | 328 | 5 | 178 |
| and | 342 | 347 | 5 | 270 |
Drill intercepts are based on a 100 gram per tonne silver cut-off with some internal intervals of lower grade for continuity and no upper cut-off. Drill intercept lengths are down-hole lengths reflecting apparent widths of mineralization with true widths ranging from 75% to 95% of the reported down-hole lengths.
All drill intercepts for the holes at El Quevar for which the Company has received and verified results are available at http://www.goldenminerals.com/.
An updated Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) compliant mineral resource estimate on El Quevar is being prepared by the independent consulting firm of Pincock, Allen and Holt (PAH). The updated resource estimate for the El Quevar project is expected about year-end 2011.
Review by Qualified Person, Quality Control and Reports
Results of the Company’s drilling program have been reviewed, verified, and compiled under the direction of the Company’s Senior Vice President of Exploration, Robert Blakestad, M.Sc., P.Geo, L.P.G., a Qualified Person for the purpose of NI 43-101. Mr. Blakestad has over 35 years of mineral exploration experience and is a Professional Geoscientist and a member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration.
To ensure reliable sample results, Golden Minerals uses a quality assurance/quality control program that monitors the chain-of-custody of samples and includes the insertion of blanks, duplicates, and certified reference standards in each batch of samples. Core is photographed and sawn in half with one half retained in a secured facility for verification purposes. Sample preparation (crushing and pulverizing) is performed at an independent ISO 9001:2001 certified laboratory in Mendoza, Argentina. Prepared samples are direct-shipped to ISO 9001:2001 certified laboratories in Santiago, Chile or Vancouver, B.C. Pulp splits of mineralized intervals are re-assayed at certified independent referee laboratories in Chile and Canada.
Velardeña Resource
The Company previously announced that the independent consulting firm of Chlumsky Armbrust and Meyer (CAM) has been retained to provide an updated NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the Velardeña Operations, located in the Durango State of Mexico, with completion expected about year-end 2011. As a result of the need to re-assay a significant number of samples to ensure that required quality control and quality assurance is maintained for a NI 43-101 compliant report, the updated resource estimate is now expected to be completed towards the end of the first quarter 2012.
About Golden Minerals
Golden Minerals is a Delaware corporation based in Golden, Colorado, primarily engaged in the ramp-up and expansion of existing production at the Velardeña and Chicago Mines in Mexico and advancement of the evaluation stage El Quevar project in Argentina. The Company has a large portfolio of exploration projects, including the advanced stage Zacatecas project in Mexico and drilling stage projects in Argentina and Peru. The Company’s experienced management team has proven in-house ability to explore, develop and operate mining projects.
