robert quartermain gave an interview at financialsense in the third hour:

http://www.financialsense.com/fsn/ma...

he had just returned from a trip to china, singapore, and dubai. they spent the first part of the interview discussing the silver market, the disconnect between paper and physical silver, the markets being established in dubai, and how trading is moving away from the comex. he said silver is flying into india. literally, for weeks every plane going from london to india was loaded with silver. so i think if there's a way to sell silver at a realistic price, he'll find it.

once again, pirquitas is on track. they will commission the ball mill in december, and the mill will be in use in the first quarter of 2009. they are optimizing the silver circuit, and the tin circuit will follow. they use the same figures as before, 10-11 million oz of production, 14-year mine life. tin prices have not declined as much as silver, so the project is currently 70% silver, 30% tin.

at san luis they should have a revised resource estimate later this year, or in early 2009, and the feasibility study in the first quarter of 2009. this is a smaller project, so the capex will be lower, and will not take as long to build as pirquitas. but it is very high grade, and gold dominant, so the lower silver prices won't affect the economics as much.

at pitarrilla the pre-feasibility study is planned for early 2009.

overall, the company's share price has suffered to the extent that each share is now backed by 27 ounces of silver, i.e. at $10 you get 27 ounces of silver for the price of one.

going forward, they will look at opportunities to enhance shareholder value by increasing exposure to silver. this could include acquisitions of projects from companies that have suffered due to market uncertainty. (in other words, buying up properties cheap from explorers who are going out of business.) he also mentioned the possibility of buying back stock. that's an option that really appeals to me if the stock is trading in single digits, but i think building san luis and pitarrilla will have to come first.