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Gold/Mining/Energy : Int'l Pursuit (T.IPJ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mission Fishin who wrote (796)	7/15/1999 11:14:00 PM
From: Mission Fishin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 835

The company appears to be turning around. Nice move today with this issue. International Pursuit Corporation - Pursuit Signs Definitive Agreement With Regeena Resources Inc. TORONTO, July 15 /CNW-PRN/ - International Pursuit Corporation (TSE: IPJ - news; ''Pursuit'') announces that it has now concluded a Definitive Agreement with Regeena Resources inc. (''Regeena'') providing Regeena with the right to acquire the Hinoba-an copper porphyry deposit in the Philippines from Pursuit. The signing of this agreement follows Regeena's preliminary due diligence on the project, including a visit to site by Regeena's independent consultants. The terms of the Definitive Agreement call for Regeena to proceed to undertake a Feasibility Study for the development of the Hinoba-an project. It is expected that Regeena will commence this work immediately after the closing with an anticipated cost to completion of approximately US$2 million. The Definitive Agreement provides Regeena with a minimum period of 2 years to undertake this study and, on completion, Regeena has the option to complete the purchase of the project and place the property into production. The option under the agreement provides for payments to Pursuit of US$2.75 million in total, commencing with an initial option payment of US$250,000 each on closing, due by 15th November 1999. Two further option payments of US$250,000 each are to be made at six-monthly intervals thereafter and a final option payment of US$2 million is to be made on completion of the Feasibility Study. On payment of these amounts Regeena will own a 100% beneficial interest in the Hinoba-an project. No further payments are required by Regeena until successful construction of the project and achievement of commercial production for a period of 6 months. At that time Regeena is to pay US$9 million in cash to Pursuit and a further US$6 million to the existing claimowners to buy-out their pre-existing 2% NSR royalty interest. Pursuit will retain a US$10 million royalty note, payable without interest on a sliding scale basis dependent on copper prices. The property will, otherwise, be free of all royalties. The deposit at Hinoba-an is well defined and is estimated by Pursuit to contain in situ geological resources of 254 million tonnes grading 0.456% copper, at a 0.3% Cu cut-off, based on an open-pit design with a stripping ratio of 1:1. The project is located close to the coast and has good site access with adequate power, water and labour supply. The proposed mine plan in Pursuit's Scoping Study provides for an initial mill throughput of 50,000 tonnes per day. The Scoping Study projects copper production of nearly 2 billion pounds over the 15-year mine life. Preliminary assessment by Regeena's independent consultant indicates that operating costs over the life of the project may average 50 cents/lb of copper produced, including current smelter and refining costs, with initial production costing around 42 cents/lb of copper. The capital cost for development of the project using only new equipment, is currently assessed to be approximately US$ 250 million. Regeena will further explore the use of reconditioned plant and equipment to reduce these costs as appropriate. It is anticipated that power will be provided from the national grid thus obviating the need for the proposed power plant. Further capital cost savings may be available from other modifications to the Scoping Study. The recent improvement in the copper market, with copper currently trading near 80 cents/lb, bodes well for the financial feasibility of the project. More definitive assessment of the capital cost of the project will be possible as the Feasibility Study is progressed. The Philippines remains a low-cost jurisdiction with a history of mining, it has a favorable government attitude towards the industry and a benign fiscal environment. The Philippines is currently recovering from the Asian financial crisis with positive economic growth now being recorded. The Philippine Central Bank recently announced that the country's foreign currency reserves, at US$14.5 billion, are at an all-time high. The Philippine stock market is also one of the best performing stock-markets in 1999 with the index only 20% from the highs recorded before the recent crisis. Regeena believes that during the period of the Feasibility Study, the copper market will continue to improve from its current levels, which remain depressed despite recent price rises. The acquisition of the Hinoba-an project at this time, with its potential for 2 billion pounds of recoverable copper, places the company in a strong strategic position to benefit substantially from any such improvement. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD G. E. Creber President and Chief Executive Officer