Golden Minerals (formerly known as Apex Silver Mines), was founded by Thomas Kaplan, from

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. It is a US-American transnational mining corporation with a tax haven address in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

. Following its reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009, it re-emerged as Golden Minerals Corporation. It is a publicly traded company on AMEX under symbol AUMN.

History

Apex Silver Mines

Since its start in 1993, Apex Silver Mines Ltd. had become an exploration and development company and producer of

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

and

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

. Apex's largest asset was the San Cristóbal open-pit silver, lead and zinc mine located in

Potosí Department Potosí (; Southern Quechua, Quechua: ''P'utuqsi''; Aymara language, Aymara: ''Putusi'') is a Departments of Bolivia, department in southwestern Bolivia. Its area is 118,218 km2 and its population is 856,419 (2024 census). The capital is the ...

, Bolivia. In September 2006,

Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide '' sōgō shōsha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group. It is listed on three Japanese stock exchange ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

acquired a 35% share of the facility. On January 12, 2009, Apex Silver and its wholly owned subsidiary, ASMC, filed voluntary petitions for relief under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

of the Bankruptcy Code with the Bankruptcy Court. The Plan was approved by the Bankruptcy Court on March 4, 2009.

Reemergence as Golden Minerals

Golden Minerals emerged from Apex

on March 24, 2009. Under the Plan, all the assets of Apex Silver, other than a small cash reserve for the payment of liquidation expenses, were transferred to Golden Minerals Company, a

Delaware corporation The Delaware General Corporation Law (sometimes abbreviated DGCL), officially the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code), is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U. ...

that is Apex Silver's successor. Apex Silver was being liquidated in accordance with

law. Golden Minerals resides in Golden,

. Golden Minerals owns and controls many exploration properties located primarily in the high potential mining districts in Latin America, including the feasibility stage El Quevar Project in northern Argentina. In connection with Apex' emergence from bankruptcy as a newly formed Delaware corporation named Golden Minerals Company, Apex sold their remaining 65% interest in the San Cristóbal mine to Sumitomo. Golden Minerals continued to operate the San Cristóbal Mine on behalf of Sumitomo until June 30, 2010, for which it received $11.4 million in revenues, including reimbursement of $5.4 million in administrative costs. This was Golden Minerals, primary source of revenue during this period.

Apex Mines

Formerly, Apex owned twelve properties: *

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

** San Cristóbal (silver, zinc, lead) **Cobrizos (silver,

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

) **Rincón del Tigre (

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

) *

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

**Jamgyr (gold) *

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

**San Luis del Cordero (silver, zinc, copper) **San Juan del Cordero (silver, zinc, lead) **Platosa (silver, zinc, lead) **El Aguila (

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

, silver) **

Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...

(silver, zinc, lead) *

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

**Aguila (silver, zinc, lead) **Aventura III (gold, silver) **Jehuamarca (silver, gold)

References

External links

Golden Minerals websiteGolden Minerals stock info
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928155541/http://tmx.quotemedia.com/quote.php?qm_symbol=AUMN:US , date=2012-09-28 Mining companies of the United States Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 Companies based in Denver