American and TSX: AUMN) (“Golden Minerals”, “Golden” or “the Company”) announced today that it has entered into an earn-in agreement (the “Agreement”) with Barrick Gold Corporation (“Barrick”) (TSX: ABX and NYSE: GOLD) whereby Barrick has acquired an option to earn a 70% interest in Golden’s El Quevar project located in the Salta Province of Argentina.



As part of the Agreement, Barrick will purchase US$1.0 million of Golden Minerals shares pursuant to a private placement transaction at a price of $0.21 per share, which is equal to the 20-day VWAP of the Company’s common shares on the NYSE American exchange on the date of the agreement. The shares will be subject to applicable restrictions on transfer under U.S. and Canadian securities laws.

In order to earn an undivided 70% interest in the El Quevar project, Barrick must:
1.Spend US$10 million on exploration,
2.Deliver an NI 43-101-compliant Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”) describing a potentially profitable operation with mineral resources of not less than 2 million gold equivalent ounces, and
3.Deliver a written notice of exercise to Golden within eight years.

Barrick’s US$10 million in defined work expenditures must be incurred over a total of 8 years. Requirements include US$0.5 million per year in years 1 and 2; US$1.0 million per year in years 3, 4 and 5; and US$2.0 million per year in years 6, 7 and 8, although amounts may be spent earlier than required. The PFS must be delivered by Barrick by the end of year 8.

Barrick may withdraw from the Agreement at any time after spending US$1.0 million in work expenditures, upon providing 30 days notice.

During the earn-in period, in addition to the exploration spending, Barrick will fund the holding costs of the property, which will qualify as work expenditures. Barrick will reimburse Golden for expenses related to maintaining the exploration camp which will initially be run by Golden under a service agreement, which will also qualify as work expenditures.

Golden will form a new entity (“NewCo”) that will hold the El Quevar properties. Upon earn-in by Barrick, the NewCo will be 70% owned by Barrick and 30% owned by Golden. Funding of NewCo will be split in proportion to ownership of each shareholder, and industry standard dilution mechanisms will apply in the case of funding shortfalls by either shareholder. Dilution below 10% interest will result in conversion to a 1.5% NSR royalty applicable to all recovered products, excluding silver during the term of the Silver Royalty. Golden will retain a 5% NSR Silver Royalty payable on the recovered silver from production from the project, capped at the 29 million total payable silver ounces as estimated in Golden Minerals’ 2018 Preliminary Economic Assessment (Amec Foster Wheeler E&C Services Inc., a Wood company, NI 43-101 Technical Report on Preliminary Economic Assessment, September 4, 2018).

Golden Minerals’ President and Chief Executive Officer, Warren Rehn, notes, “We are very pleased to have Barrick as a partner in this exploration agreement. Barrick’s interest in exploring the El Quevar district underscores, as we have long maintained, the excellent potential of the high sulfidation epithermal systems at El Quevar to host additional important discoveries. Barrick has a long history of success in discovering, developing and mining world-class gold deposits in the Andes and elsewhere. This agreement sets a reasonable base value on our existing asset and allows for substantial upside if Barrick is successful in its exploration efforts at El Quevar.”

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Golden Minerals Announces Updated COVID-19-Related Activities.
GOLDEN, Colo., April 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Golden Minerals Company (NYSE American and TSX: AUMN) (“Golden Minerals”, “Golden” or “the Company”) has announced several updates with regards to the Company’s COVID-19-related plans and activities.



In compliance with the recent directive of the Mexican Federal Government to suspend all non-essential activities, including mining, until April 30, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company has begun an orderly and safe suspension of mining activities at its Velardeña Properties (Durango State, Mexico). Work is being conducted jointly with Hecla Mining Company to shut down the oxide mill that Hecla presently leases from the Company. Hecla will, per the terms of the existing lease agreement, continue to pay the fixed monthly fee of US$125,000 to Golden for up to 90 days during a temporary shutdown, as well as pay for the shutdown-related costs. During the period of suspension, Golden will not receive the variable component of revenue that is tied to tonnes of ore milled per month.

Separately, the Company recently reached an agreement with Compañia Minera Autlán S.A.B. de C.V. (“Autlán”) to extend the time to repay the remaining US$729,000 balance related to the US$1.5 million refundable deposit received for the proposed sale of its Velardeña properties and other assets in June 2019. The proposed sale was terminated in September 2019 and in December 2019, the Company started making payments in equal monthly installments to repay the deposit, together with interest accruing at 11% per annum, by May 2020. Effective April 9, 2020, the Company and Autlán agreed to reduce the amount of the equal monthly payments and increase the interest rate applicable to the remaining balance of the deposit to 12% per annum, which is now due in full by December 2020.

The extended Autlán repayment terms in conjunction with the US$1.0 million Sentient loan previously received (see the Company’s press release dated April 2, 2020) are designed to provide a cushion of working capital to the Company during financial market disruptions that may materialize as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.