In reference to the my post of the other day which highlighted Chimera Energy's effort to stop the naked shorting of its stock, I copied Chimera's release and with a note sent it off to a number of my juniors whose stock has been considered by many to having been naked shorted for many months.

To my pleasant surprise, AUM/AUMN has been the only one to respond, at least so far, and they did it very quickly, which is a credit to their Investor Relations people. Below is their response.

That the AUM stock price has collapsed from roughly 28 bucks to its current 4.44 in the past 2 years or so, must be a major concern for them, and us, but it appears, at least to me, that the naked shorters, if indeed they are there, are smarter and quicker and better connected politically than the rest of us. If so, it appears the practice will continue, at least for the foreseeable future.

-------------------

Dear …………………

Thank you for contacting Golden Minerals. Your frustration with naked short selling is shared by many, and it is a topic that has been discussed at our executive and Board levels, as well as with our legal counsel. I am most interested to learn how, precisely, changing one's CUSIP is expected to thwart naked short-sellers. It seems to me changing a CUSIP could force traders to cover in the short term, but then the same short activity would likely resume under the new CUSIP. I will forward your letter to our management and legal counsel for their review and thoughts. In the mean time, here are the actions we have pursued and the information we have been given, with regards to the short activity in Golden stock:

- Golden senior management has met with securities counsel in Washington, D.C. about what potential path we might take to combat the issue of short positions/naked shorting of our shares.

- We were advised that "factual evidence" of a concerted effort to drive down our share price and manipulate the stock price is needed to even begin to bring a legal case. We were also advised these cases are notoriously difficult to win.

- We were reminded that shorting shares in and of itself is perfectly legal. While naked shorting is illegal, it is exceedingly difficult to pinpoint and prove, as the Chimera press release mentions. (AUM bold type - hobbers)

- Bringing such a case even with factual evidence would be extremely costly. We feel Golden's cash is best put to use at our Velardeña Operations in Mexico, where we are increasing production that will in turn generate revenue for the company. Given we have just raised financing to fund this growth, it would arguably be an unwise use of that cash to pursue a legal case that we're advised we are unlikely to win.

- We read the investor boards regularly, and have seen no libelous material in print with which we might bring a libel case.

- As long as securities legislation stays as it is, short selling and naked shorting is able to carry on unabated. The change must ultimately come in the form of changed legislation and enhanced technical capabilities that will ‘catch’ the naked shorts and prohibit their trades from executing, or will be able to pinpoint their identity.

Lastly, please know that management is personally and significantly invested in this company; therefore, their interests in seeing the company succeed are in line with our shareholders' interests.

Best regards,

Golden Minerals Investor Relations