Interesting reading on ARP. Things heating up. Hoping this is MDIN in a few months:
Tuesday January 12, 1:39 pm Eastern Time
INTERVIEW-Argentina Gold looks for Veladero
payoff
By Robert S. Elliott
BUENOS AIRES, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A recent offer by mining giant Barrick Gold Corp.
(Toronto:ABX.TO - news) to take over outstanding shares of Canada's Argentina Gold Corp. (Vancouver:ARP.V - news)
was untimely and half the appropriate sum, an official said Tuesday.
Toronto-based Barrick recently offered C$4.00 apiece ($91 million) for Argentina Gold's available shares in an attempt to
snatch control of Veladero, a glittering gold field nudging the northwestern Argentine border with Chile.
Based on results at the site, Argentina Gold's stock is worth at least C$8 per share, or $186 million, Veladero Exploration
Manager Ricardo Martinez told Reuters.
''We feel the Barrick offer was not presented at the right time. They were given a chance to finance certain portions of the
project earlier through private placements and they didn't,'' said Martinez.
''All of these new results that we predicted have come along and they have taken a new position,'' he added.
The Veladero deposit is 60 percent operated by Argentina Gold, with the remainder in the hands of Barrick.
In two seasons of drilling Argentina Gold has uncovered resources of 4.5 million ounces of gold and 250 million ounces of
silver, or about eight million ounces of gold equivalent, said Martinez.
''We are strongly confident about the potential for increased resources and their quality,'' he said.
Veladero sits 4,000 to 5,000 meters above sea level in the Andes mountains shadowing Argentina's San Juan province. The
find is 3.8 miles (6 km) southeast of Barrick's large-scale Pascua gold project and 35 kilometers northeast of its El Indio gold
mine.
''There are hints Pascua is too costly for Barrick as a stand-alone project,'' said Martinez.
''I would say Barrick needs Veladero to start up Pascua,'' he added.
Drilling by Argentina Gold over 23,000 meters has uncovered an average 1.5-1.7 grams per tonne of gold at Veladero.
''We have very large sections that have up to 18 grams per tonne gold and 45 grams per tonne silver,'' said Martinez.
Encouraged by its discoveries and financially shored up by a recent sale of 2,550,000 of its shares to U.S. gold titan Newmont
Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM - news), Argentina Gold wants to double its $4.5 million drilling campaign this season.
''If we can increase the budget to $7 million we will definitely double drilling,'' said Martinez.
''All of the holes we have drilled have had mineralization,'' he said.
A $10 million to $12 million pre-feasibility study at the site is planned between September of this year and August 2000. A
feasibility study would take place in the following drilling season.
''We think going into pre-feasibility we'll need at least 30,000 meters drilled,'' said Martinez. |
