Golden Minerals Begins Drill Program at San Luis del Cordero

Canada NewsWire

GOLDEN, Colo., March 2, 2016

GOLDEN, Colo., March 2, 2016 /CNW/ -- Golden Minerals Company (NYSE MKT: AUMN; TSX: AUM) ("Golden Minerals" or "the Company") announced today that it has started a 3,000-meter drilling program on the Santa Rosa vein in the San Luis del Cordero Project in Durango State, Mexico, under an exploration and exploitation agreement signed with the wholly-owned Mexican subsidiary of Prospero Silver Corp. (TSXV: PSL) ("Prospero").

Silver grades as reported by Prospero from previous limited drilling averaged between 700 and 800 grams per tonne silver over a two-meter width in the Santa Rosa vein below historic stopes. Golden Minerals' primary objectives for the 2016 drill program are to define a larger and upgraded Santa Rosa vein resource including measured resources as well as indicated and inferred resources.

Drilling will test for vein extensions to the northwest and east of the known resource. Management believes that an area of surface alteration and antimony and arsenic geochemical anomalies with dimensions of 200 by 1,000 meters along strike to the northwest of the known resource is prospective for additional vein extensions. In addition, the vein deposit is open to the east and at depth. The Company plans to drill 11 to 14 holes in this initial drill program with depths between 150 and 300 meters. All drill holes will be angled core holes designed to intercept the vein at depths of 100 to 250 meters below surface. The Company expects to conclude the drill program in April or May of 2016.

The Company expects to issue a NI 43-101 resource estimate and preliminary economic analysis in the third quarter 2016. Assuming the economic analysis is positive, Golden intends to begin a decline ramp from the surface to access the vein for mining when permits are complete, as funding is available. Preliminary results from the Company's initial metallurgical testing of the Santa Rosa vein indicate that the material is suitable for concentration by flotation. The Cordero project is within trucking distance of the Company's idled sulfide mill at the Velardena Properties, to which material could be transported for processing.

Audit Opinion

The company also today announced that, as previously disclosed in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 (the "Annual Report"), which was filed on February 25, 2016, the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2015 included in the Form 10-K contained a going concern qualification paragraph in the audit opinion from its independent registered public accounting firm. This announcement is made pursuant to NYSE MKT Company Guide Section 610(b), which requires separate disclosure of receipt of an audit opinion containing a going concern qualification. This announcement does not represent any change or amendment to the Company's consolidated financial statements or to its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.

About Golden Minerals

Golden Minerals is a Delaware corporation based in Golden, Colorado. The Company is primarily focused on acquiring and advancing mining properties near its Velardena processing plants and the exploration of properties in Mexico and Argentina.