My intention was not to defend Golden management but provide some historical perspective on what actually did transpire as opposed to what some may think actually happened. I am well aware of what I said and how it reflects on management, they must defend their own record. The Velardena property has been mined for decades in the past so more exploration work had nothing to do with what happened. Any limitations were known when the sulphide mill was acquired and then the oxide mill re-acquired. I also see El Quevar as the real deal even if it's in Argentina.
The working capital that you suggest they wasted was invested in wiping out the debt, upgrading operations, exploration work on various projects, driving the new ramp, mine improvements like ventilation/optimization, new equipment, producing a poorly conceived revised resource report which wasn't required, lawyers fees on the merger, costs associated with the merger including severance packages and yes too high an overhead. So indeed some was wasted, no disagreement.
Management has indeed made mistakes as we all concede and they have not listened well to advise on occassion and yes good management is important as is a good project for which Golden has more than one, as is money in the bank, as is a strong gold/silver price, as is cost control, as is no debt, as is 2 functional mills, as is a large resource, as is having your largest shareholder (20%) on the BOD whose cost basis is many times higher. At the end of the day if Golden fails then the assets will be sold or JV'ed or merged with someone else and management will be gone and shareholders will move on.
Only the juniors who have nothing and can't access the capital markets or don't have JV'able projects or own no assets or have nothing of value will fail with shareholders getting nothing. And say what you want about Golden, this is not a cow pasture proposition even if the share price presently seems like it (I suspect it bottomed weeks ago as I stated then, maybe even made a double bottom). I can point to many gold/silver equities that also appear like cow pasture valutations given their asset quality. None of this excuses where Golden is presently nor management for missing stated production goals from what initially promised to be a strong production team post merger. I would like to see some of that promised production experience & mine operational expertise show through and Clevenger prove it to us. I still think this is possible but am watching closely and this is why I'm long the stock.
