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To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (805)	3/9/2006 8:02:33 PM
From: ms.smartest.person	Respond to of 3198

Uber Investor McEwen Expands Nevada Empire Dorothy Kosich '07-MAR-06 04:00' RENO--(Mineweb.com) With the friendly takeover of four companies, über-investor Rob McEwen is bound and determined to create the top junior explorer in Nevada. To no-one's surprise, Rob McEwen has announced that he will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of four companies, in which he has already invested, that are now part of the Cortez Trend, a part of the Battle Mountain-Eureka Trend in Nevada, and create what he hopes will be Nevada's top junior exploration company. White Knight Resources (TSX/V:WKR), Nevada Pacific Gold TSX/V:NPG, Coral Gold Resources (TSX/V:CGR) and Tone Resources (TSX/V:TNS) are all on McEwen's M&A target list. McEwen told reporters Monday that "we would own more than a third of the trend in a very prolific area." If all goes according to plan, the four juniors would merge into U.S. Gold Corporation (OCTBB:USGL). Nevadans may recall U.S. Gold's Tonkin Springs mine, also located on the Cortez Trend, which had been the grand experiment in bioleach technology by BacTech and U.S. Gold. However, the dream never quite found commercial success. In an interview with Mineweb Monday, U.S. Gold Investor Relations Manager Ian Ball noted that the combination of the five companies would offer far more than a sizable land position on the Cortez Trend. Consolidation of the capital of the five companies would total $90 million, according to his estimates. The consolidation would also combine some of the best expertise in Nevada exploration and project financing and permitting. White Knight's Vice President of Exploration Robert Cuffney is considered by his Nevada exploration geologist peers to be one of the absolute experts on the Cortez Trend. Coral Gold has been exploring the Crescent Valley for well over a decade. Ann Carpenter, the President and COO of U.S. Gold and an exploration geologist with international experience, is probably best known for her outstanding government affairs work in Washington D.C. and in Nevada on behalf of the Women's Mining Coalition. U.S. Gold Director Leann Baker is renown for her investment banking and rain-making expertise in the precious metals sector. Nevada Pacific Gold President Curt Everson also is a long-time Nevada explorationist who formerly worked for Santa Fe Pacific and Goldfields. Ball said the combined companies would provide "much more liquid stock" that would, hopefully, appeal to and attract the institutional investor. Finally, in a news release, McEwen declared "our goal is to build the premier exploration company in Nevada. This initiative represents a significant step in that direction." U.S. Gold's offer to acquire the four juniors represents a $256.9-million stock transaction. McEwen reaped a resounding success with Goldcorp and the discovery of the Red Lake mine. Nevertheless, the Cortez Trend is a substantial area in territory, which has been explored by a number of mining and exploration companies. Newmont Mining and Placer Dome, which held the largest land positions on the trend, basically have driven the development of the Cortez Trend in modern times. Newmont, which is the largest landholder, has yet to discover a major mine in the trend. Currently, nearly 40 major and junior companies hold land positions on the trend, involving hundreds of square miles of land. Despite all the promotional hype extolling the Cortez Trend, its sole major success story in the past 15 years has been the Cortez Joint Venture area, now supplemented by Barrick's various Pipeline projects. Until the past two years, many of the junior companies exploring the trend were cash-starved, and were fortunate if they could manage to keep one or two drills regularly operating. Meanwhile, the Crescent Valley is also a hotbed of anti-mining NGO activity, which has attracted international attention and foundation funding support. mineweb.net