Here we go again . . .
Southam Newspapers VANCOUVER - A Vancouver exploration company headed by an exiled Howe Street promoter claims to have more gold in its Nevada property than Bre-X Minerals claimed to have in its Indonesian property.
American Technology Exploration Corp., whose corporate address is a post office box on West Broadway, claims its Moapa property 80 km northeast of Las Vegas contains 76 million ounces of gold.
By comparison, the feasibility study conducted by Kilborn Engineering on Bre-X's Indonesian property determined there were 71 million ounces of gold on that property. That calculation was later renounced after it was determined that drill information provided by Bre-X management was bogus.
Investors appear to be believing American Technology's story, though. The company's stock, which trades on the Nasdaq bulletin board, peaked at $8.75 US on March 9. With more than 150 million shares outstanding, that gave the company a total stock market value of more than $1.3 billion US.
By Monday, the stock -which trades sporadically and fluctuates wildly - had slumped to $3-7/8. On Tuesday, it didn't trade at all.
American Technology's chair is Philip Lieberman, 79, who was banned from the British Columbia stock market for 10 years in 1988 after he made similar claims about a gold property owned by his Vancouver Stock Exchange company, Marco Resources.
He was suspended for another eight years in 1994 after the B.C. Securities Commission found he had sold shares of another VSE company in defiance of the original order.
The company's Web site on the Internet lists Lieberman as the company's chair and describes him as "the highly successful chairman of many companies" and "a key figure in the future success" of the company. There is no mention of his regulatory problems.
The Web site says the company's Nevada property contains 76 million ounces of gold. It estimates that, at an average production cost of $100 an ounce, the mine will generate $26 billion in net revenues during its 30-year life.
"The company plans to begin production in late spring 1997. Shares can easily be purchased anywhere in the world through any securities house," the company says.
The Web site also lists Lieberman's son, Marc, as the company's president and treasurer. In an interview Tuesday, he described those projections as "extravagant."
"You know, we haven't dug it (the gold) up, obviously. It's going to require a lot of time and money. Those are very extravagant projections based on work done by the geologist on the property."
Asked where the company's Web site advises investors that the projections are extravagant, he replied: "What I meant by extravagant was a high figure that is attached to property that's going to require lot of work and far-sighted thinking by individuals to realize that sort of value."
Reminded that the Web site says production is set to being in late spring, he said: "We're going to have to update that, because it isn't going to happen that quickly."
Asked why the company's Web site didn't mention his father's regulatory problems, he replied: "Why should it?"
Asked how his father can promote stock in view of his suspension, he said: "My father has been restricted from trading in stocks on the Vancouver Stock Exchange. American Technology does not trade on the VSE."
Advised that the B.C. Securities Commission contends that its order applies to all promotional activities conducted within the province, regardless of where the stock is traded, Lieberman took another tack: He claimed his father lives in the United States - not B.C. - but declined to say where in the U.S.
"My dad's in the mining business. He's not a stock promoter. If somebody wants to call their broker and buy some stock in a company in which he is involved, good luck to them,"he said.
But American Technology's Web site gives his father's "private" telephone line in Vancouver. When The Vancouver Sun called Tuesday, only an answering machine responded.
The company's "executive office" is also listed at Suite 143 - 1001 West Broadway. That address, however, is the location of Mailboxes Etc., a mail drop business.
Disclosure documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also list Lieberman's address as 201-2050 Nelson Street in Vancouver.
And as recently as May 22, Lieberman used that address in a form declaring his intention to sell 550,000 shares of American Technology through Yorkton Securities, a Vancouver-based securities firm.
It is not known whether he sold any of those shares. Yorkton vice-president John McCoach said Tuesday it has no accounts in Lieberman's name. |
