Equity

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

Equity

Equity

10.   Equity

Equity Incentive Plans

In April 2009, the Company adopted the 2009 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Equity Plan”) pursuant to which awards of the Company’s common stock may be made to officers, directors, employees, consultants and agents of the Company and its subsidiaries.  The Company recognizes stock-based compensation costs using a graded vesting attribution method whereby costs are recognized over the requisite service period for each separately vesting portion of the award.

The following table summarizes the status of the Company’s restricted stock grants issued under the Equity Plan at June 30, 2011 and changes during the six months then ended:

Restricted Stock Grants	Number of Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value Per Share
Outstanding at December 31, 2010	461,650		$	13.45
Granted during the period	—		—
Restrictions lifted during the period	(178,750	)	9.66
Forfeited during the period	—		—
Outstanding at June 30, 2011	282,900		$	15.85

In conjunction with the lifting of the restrictions during the period, certain officers of the Company relinquished an aggregate of 41,681 shares in lieu of taxes.  The shares had an approximate aggregate value of $0.9 million and were recorded as treasury shares which were subsequently canceled.

For the three months and six months ended June 30, 2011 the Company recognized approximately $0.8 million and $1.8 million, respectively of compensation expense related to the restricted stock grants and the Company expects to recognize additional compensation expense related to these awards of approximately $1.6 million over the next 30 months.

The following table summarizes the status of the Company’s stock option grants issued under the Equity Plan at June 30, 2011 and changes during the six months then ended:

Equity Plan Options	Number of Shares	Weighted Average Exercise Price Per  Share
Outstanding at December 31, 2010	136,810	$	8.01
Granted during period	—	—
Forfeited or expired during period	—	—
Exercised during period	—	—
Outstanding at June 30, 2011	136,810	8.01
Exercisable at end of period	45,603	8.01
Granted and expected to vest	131,693	8.01

For the three months and six months ended June 30, 2011 the Company recognized approximately $0.05 million and $0.2 million, respectively of compensation expense related to the option grants and the Company expects to recognize additional compensation expense related to these awards of approximately $0.1 million over the next 23 months.

Also, pursuant to the Equity Plan, the Company’s board of directors adopted the Non-Employee Director’s Deferred Compensation and Equity Award Plan (the “Deferred Compensation Plan”).  Pursuant to the Deferred Compensation Plan the non-employee directors receive a portion of their compensation in the form of Restricted Stock Units (“RSUs”) issued under the Equity Plan. The RSUs vest on the first anniversary of the grant and each vested RSU entitles the director to receive one unrestricted share of common stock upon the termination of the director’s board service.

The following table summarizes the status of the RSU grants issued under the Deferred Compensation Plan at June 30, 2011 and changes during the six months then ended:

Restricted Stock Units	Number of Underlying Shares	Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value Per Share
Outstanding at December 31, 2010	46,555	$	9.62
Granted during the period	14,355	17.42
Restrictions lifted during the period	—	—
Forfeited during the period	—	—
Outstanding at June 30, 2011	60,910	$	11.46

For the three months and six months ended June 30, 2011 the Company recognized approximately $0.05 million and $0.1 million, respectively of compensation expense related to the RSU grants and expects to recognize additional compensation expense related to these RSUs of approximately $0.2 million over the next 11 months.

Exercise of warrants

As previously disclosed, during January 2010 the Company acquired Hochschild Mining Group’s (“Hochschild”) 35% interest in Minera El Quevar S.A. in exchange for 400,000 shares of its common stock and a Common Stock Purchase Warrant (the “Warrant’) to acquire 300,000 shares of its common stock exercisable for three years at an exercise price of $15.00 per share.  On April 13, 2011, Hochschild exercised the Warrant on a cashless exercise basis as permitted by the terms of the Warrant, which resulted in the issuance to Hochschild of 104,889 net shares of the Company’s common stock on April 15, 2011.  Following the exercise of the Common Stock Purchase Warrant, the Company has no warrants outstanding.