VGLD NEWS!!National Post!!
nationalpost.com
Thursday, August 26, 1999
Doug Lewis turns treasure hunter
Former minister heads company after gold bullion
Stephen Miles
Financial Post
Tom Hanson, The Canadian Press
Doug Lewis
Doug Lewis, former long-time member of federal Parliament, senior cabinet minister and solicitor general in the Mulroney government, has emerged at the helm of a new public company chasing a fortune in gold bullion, coins and precious gems in the Caribbean.
Toronto-based Visa Gold Explorations Inc., which went public on the Canadian Dealing Network yesterday, holds the rights to hunt for treasure off the coast of Cuba.
Mr Lewis, president of the fledgling firm and chief negotiator of salvage rights with the Cuban government, said the company yesterday began diving on the site of what is believed to be a fleet of Spanish galleons near Havana.
A major target in the search is the Santissima Trinidad, a Spanish galleon that foundered in a hurricane in 1711, taking $400-million worth of silver coins and other treasures to the seabed.
Dreams of untold riches from recovering precious gems and pieces of eight have captured the imagination of Visa Gold investors.
After opening at $1.50 on its first day of trading, Visa Gold stares traded as high as $1.70 before closing up 15½ at $1.60.
Visa Gold has a joint-venture deal with the Cuban government and state-owned Geomar SA, a branch of the Cuban Hydrographic Department, to excavate and salvage shipwrecks in two areas in Cuban waters that have been off limits to exploration by foreigners since the 1959 revolution.
The areas, totalling 5,000 square kilometres, are littered with shipwrecks, including 25 sunken galleons, the firm says. The first area stretches west from the mouth of Havana harbour and the second surrounds the Isle of Youth on the south coast.
Because of its geographical location, Havana was a major trade and commerce centre for almost 250 years, and a major launching point for ships headed to Europe. But pirates and rough weather made it risky to sail the waters.
Spanish galleons, many loaded with treasure from South America, often were lost in the region, resulting in the largest concentration of shipwrecks in the world.
Visa Gold hopes to salvage some of those wrecks.
Mr. Lewis, advisor to Visa Gold since 1993, said the project was more than just a treasure hunt. "This is a business deal, pure and simple," he said.
"We have a pretty good lead on the fleet that went down in 1711 in the Santa Anna River area. Five divers have gone down today to start the underwater search."
He said the firm would spend $30,000 (US) to $40,000 (US) a month on exploration. "When we find something we'll recover it properly. We're not in this to melt it down into a gold ingot.
"Anything we bring up will be evaluated. The Cuban government gets 50% of the net value and we get recovery expenses. Then we will divide the balance with Geomar, our joint-venture partner."
However, the former wily politician would not be drawn into estimating the value of any recoverable riches.
"I've refused to get into that because it's a mug's game," he said. "I prefer to look at it in terms of the area that we've got is the best in Cuba and we have the right equipment and resources to bring to bear on it."
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