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Glencairn Gold plans Costa Rica mine writedown, seeks funds for Nicaragua project Mon Oct 1, 1:29 PM By Romina Maurino, The Canadian Press ADVERTISEMENT TORONTO - Glencairn Gold Corp. (TSX:GGG) is looking to raise funds to develop its Libertad project in Nicaragua, opting to restructure its business around that project after provisionally writing down its troubled Bellavista mine in Costa Rica for as much as US$50 million. Glencairn, which shut down operations at Bellavista indefinitely in July after ground movements blamed on heavy rain raised fears of a cyanide spill, also said Monday it is selling its interest in the Cerro Quema development in Panama for US$6 million. But while the Toronto-based miner said it's "in discussions on a restructuring of the company and possible financing alternatives," its plans do not include a sale, said CEO Peter Tagliamonte. "We're not looking at selling the company, we're looking at trying to maximize the value to our shareholders," he said in a phone interview. "That would be getting enough money into the company or funds - whether it's equity or debt - to really focus on Nicaragua, build the Libertad mine, do exploration and also do whatever we need to do at the Bellavista mine." Glencairn has "some excellent exploration concessions in Nicaragua," but has thus far lacked funds to develop them, he said. Tagliamonte said the perception of an environmental impact in Costa Rica has caused a significant drop in Glencairn's share price, bringing the gold producer's current market capitalization to $38 million. That price tag has made Glencairn attractive to various other miners, he said, and the company "did have some discussions with a number of companies" while attending the annual Denver Gold Show Conference last week. "We didn't feel it was in the best interest of shareholders to sell the company at 15 cents, which we were trading at. We felt that we should really try to improve the value to the shareholders first before we look at any kind of strategic merger or acquisition." On the TSX Monday, Glencairn was trading down 4.5 cents Cdn, or about 20 per cent, at 18.5 cents with almost 3.2 million shares changing hands. Just before announcing the closure of Bellavista in July, Glencairn shares traded at 47.5 cents, but they fell to a six-year low in August after the troubles at Bellavista. Before that, the stock hadn't been below 19 cents since April 2001. The all-cash sale of Cerro Quema to Bellhaven Copper & Gold Inc. (TSXV:BHG), is expected to close Oct. 31, with Bellhaven paying instalments through to the end of next year. The deal rids Glencairn of a "non-core" assets and provides it with additional funds to focus on its mining and exploration properties in Nicaragua. "It's a nice asset (but) it's very small (and) we only own 60 per cent of it, so developing it would always have some management difficulties in that you have a partner you have to continually deal with," Tagliamonte said. "We always had in mind that we would sell it." He also reiterated the company's commitment to Bellavista, stressing once again that the company won't back away from any commitments, despite an environmental group's fears that Glencairn would abandon the project. "We continue to maintain a workforce on the site, we continue to do the geotechnical investigations, we continue to monitor the site for any possible cyanide leaks or any chemical leaks," he said. "The cyanide's been removed from the site but we continue to monitor all the areas." The company said Monday it plans to post a provisional impairment charge against the Bellavista mine assets, in the magnitude of US$40 million to $50 million, in its financial results for the nine months ended Sept. 30. The writedown, which would only take place if the mine doesn't reopen, represents the full carrying value of the asset, "so there wouldn't be any more writedown done on that," Tagliamonte said. The mine's future remains uncertain, but it could be reopened as a conventional operation, using an extraction process that would not involve leaching. With heap leaching, crushed ore is sprayed with potentially poisonous cyanide, which dissolves the gold and separates it from the rock. Cyanide-laced water that runs off the ore is collected and contained in a pond to prevent leakage into the environment. Glencairn, a gold producer focused in Central America, estimates there are 365,500 ounces of mineable gold in Bellavista. The company also operates the Limon mine in Nicaragua and holds a 100 per cent interest in the Mestiza gold property, 70 kilometres from Limon. Quelle: news.yahoo |
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| aus der Diskussion: | GLENCAIRN GOLD - Vor der "Explosion"? |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | Videomart (01.10.07 23:38:05) |
| Beitrag: | 23 von 281 (ID:31811768) |
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