FROM RB DENVER POST
DENVER POST
denverpost.com
'Visible' gold in Bolivia
By Robert Schwab
Denver Post Business Writer
June 22 - Golden Eagle International Inc., the Denver mining company that
was challenged on its estimates of a Bolivian gold deposit last year by the
Securities and Exchange Commission, reported Monday that a respected
mining consultant had found "visible alluvial gold'' across a large swath and
through extraordinary depths of its land, but it could still be difficult to mine.
Golden Eagle said Behre Dolbear & Co., a well-known, Denverbased
industry consultant hired after the SEC questioned Golden Eagle's
billion-dollar estimates of the deposit, reported, "The extent of the deposition
of Cangalli conglomerates is impressive.''
But Behre Dolbear (pronounced "bare dole-bare'') also confirmed Golden
Eagle's previous disclosures that mining the gold could be a risky business.
"The widespread but erratic nature of gold occurrences containing
reasonably large "nuggets' and the presence of large boulders in the
conglomerate makes collection of representative samples difficult,'' Golden
Eagle quoted its consultant as saying.
In March, the SEC settled with the company over allegations that its
president, Terry C. Turner, had fraudulently hyped claims of a billion-dollar
deposit at its Cangalli, Bolivia, holdings north of LaPaz in the Tipuani mining
district. The company agreed to be subject to stiff sanctions if it committed
violations in the future.
The district has yielded gold since pre-Columbian times, but Turner's
estimate of a $46 billion discovery of "proven'' reserves caused U.S federal
regulators to halt trading in the company's stock June 22, 1998, at 32 cents
a share.
Trading resumed in July, and on Monday shares closed at 30 cents each, up
8.125 cents a share, although the Behre Dolbear findings had not yet been
released. Golden Eagle's twoweek high was $2.50 a share July 10 last year,
two days after trading resumed; its 52-week low was 2 cents a share on the
day after trading resumed.
Turner said Monday that he wasn't any longer estimating values for the
company's deposit but said the Behre Dolbear report confirms that "what we
have is a widely mineralized, very large gold deposit.''
Golden Eagle neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing when it settled with
the SEC, and Turner said it paid no fine. He said the company will continue
maintenance production at its mine in Cangalli, will try to acquire more
property in the area and, within four months, will build a production facility to
recover gold from its Chaco Playa site.
Chaco Playa is one of four surface areas within its holdings, including
Cangalli, where Behre Dolbear reported finding "exploration'' grade gold, or
eight-tenths of a gram of gold per cubic meter of dirt.
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