I have done some research on my own on AUM. First of all the financial statements for aum are not very respectful. They had a net loss of 15.9 million dollars for quarter 1 of 2011. 8.7 million expense related. 3.7 million exploration expenses.2.2 million dollars administrative expenses. That does not include the losses on the financial sheets provided for the first quarter. These can be found on the homepage of Golden Minerals.

My second findings were the Sentient group. They own 19% of Golden minerals and also want to own just as much of ECU. I at first find that attractive, except this is a major hedge fund. Please feel free to check out that website to. While reading about Sentient I looked at the board members profiles and found the Chairmans very interesting indeed.

Charles Di Bona served as the consultant of energy to the President of the United States. Got to tell you that scares me. That is of course if no one here is afraid of a ex government official watching over your money. Mr. Di Bona is the chairman of this group. Then the costs for Golden minerals for this years forecast.

They will spend 40 to 48 million dollars at the El Quevar project,[ one they own} to fund ongoing exploration drilling and so on . I would put all things in but I have more and would rather you all soak up what I have found. They will also spend 12 million on all the rest of the exploration companies owned by them. That is another 9 mines. They will also spend 5.5 million on administrative costs all this in 2011 alone. So what is that total ? Well if you go by the highest numbers they convey 65.5 million dollars. Again remember they are in the red 15.9 million dollars already.

Now the reverse merger. I got burned on a reverse merger 5 years ago by a company called GXPI. I must admit it was a dum move but I do know this. For every 1 comman share you must have 100 shares just to get that 1. So needless to say I took a big loss. And I don't want to see that happen again especially to all of you.

So if they are already spending 65.5 million dollars on the assets owned by them, loss 15.9 million dollars in the first quarter, how on earth could they come up with 100 million dollars to merge with ECU. Answer in my head third party. That's right a hedge fund. It is a interesting read since they are involved with many different parties. Also don't have this figure in my head but they also promise a premium on our shares correct. That's additional funding that must be accounted for.

I like to know how they can help our mills if they are working on the projects already set up for this year. I just can't see it. Yes ECU has gone up the last few weeks but was it on this news? And if it was that would be insider trading correct? Trust me I know I make mistakes sometimes. But is it because we were added to a new ETF? Because I noticed the change right of the bat. And the fact that this company went bankrupt only a few years ago is not reassuring either. GXPI did this and are still worth nothing after 5 years.

I to will wait a little longer because I believe in the group of people on this board. Whether it is critizism or thanks I have tryed to find some basics for us all to research and give opinions on. But at first glance this looks like a takeover to me and not by Golden Minerals. They don't have the cash to make things work according to this years accounting. Hope I'm wrong. That's all I got for now.