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Gold/Mining/Energy : Precious and Base Metal Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elizabeth Andrews who wrote (1212)	1/16/2002 8:22:19 PM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 39344

Inmet Rises on C$88 Million Judgment Against Barrick (Update3) (Closes shares.) Toronto, Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Inmet Mining Corp. stock rose 24 percent after a British Columbia judge ordered Barrick Gold Corp. to pay C$88.2 million ($55.4 million) because a company it bought backed out of an agreement to purchase an Inmet gold mine. Shares in the Toronto-based gold, copper and zinc-mining company rose 88 cents to C$4.48 in Toronto as more than 1.45 million shares traded, 22 times the three-month daily average. It was the stock's biggest one-day percentage gain since March 3, 1999. Homestake Mining Co., which Barrick acquired last year, withdrew from a $110 million agreement to purchase the Troilus mine in Quebec in 1997, saying tests showed there was less gold than Inmet studies indicated. Inmet Chief Executive Richard Ross said the judge's decision backs Inmet's results. ``We put forward a number of expert witnesses testifying to the merits of our assessments of the assays and the grades and such and clearly (the judge) believed our witnesses and our evidence,'' Ross said in an interview. Toronto-based Barrick, the biggest gold-mining company, is reviewing the decision and may appeal the ruling by British Columbia Supreme Court judge Deborah Satanove, spokesman Vince Borg said. Barrick shares rose 25 cents, or 0.9 percent, to C$27.95. The Troilus mine, in northern Quebec, generated a profit of C$7 million in 2000, producing 122,500 ounces of gold at a cash cost of $231 an ounce, the company said in its annual report. Happy Ross said he's happy with the mine's performance now and pleased that the judge didn't order the sale to go through, even if that meant Inmet would have collected the full $110 million. ``In this situation we're absolutely delighted that we get to keep the asset,'' he said. ``We think it's a better outcome for us.'' The judge said in her 144-page ruling that the defendant's claim that Inmet breached the contract by misrepresenting the size and quality of the gold deposit at the mine was unfounded. She said Homestake didn't rely on the Inmet findings for its decision to buy the mine, rather it wanted the property and assets required to operate the mine. Inmet has 35.5 million shares outstanding making, the C$88 million judgment worth C$2.48 a share. Ross said he hasn't decided what to do with the money. ``We're going to wait to get the C$88 million in our hands so we're not going to spend it before we get it,'' Ross said. --Joe Schneider in the Toronto newsroom (416) 203-5717 or jschneider5@Bloomberg.net. Editor: Simenhoff, Erman, MacKay. Story illustration: The complete judgment will be posted on the British Columbia Supreme Court Web site at courts.gov.bc.ca