No patience, no reward,,, Rob McEwen, the founder of Goldcorp (G) Inc., says his McEwen Mining Inc. (MUX) may sell a copper project and use the proceeds to help finance its plan to become one of the world’s biggest gold producers.
“All the big players” in the copper industry have expressed an interest in the Los Azules deposit in Argentina, McEwen said at a Nov. 15 investor presentation in New York. “Arms of the Chinese government” are among those who’ve been in contact, he said, without giving details.
“The project is very large for a company with our size and balance sheet,” McEwen, 62, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “You would rather go in with someone who knows how to do that.”
Selling Los Azules would free up cash for McEwen Mining’s precious-metals exploration projects in Argentina, Mexico and the U.S. as producers find it difficult to raise funds. In Canada, where more than 400 gold miners are based, producers announced $2.53 billion of equity sales this year, down from $3.51 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
McEwen Mining said it settled a lawsuit over Los Azules that had brought its ownership into question, allowing the Toronto-based company to realize the project’s full potential.
“We put a data room together,” McEwen said last week. “We’ll be inviting people who have expressed an interest down there in January.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-22/mcewen-shops-copper-mine-to-focus-on-gold.html
The month of January 2013 is here and now.
This month should also produce news release concerning drill results from Los Azules. MUX has already reported the existance of large resource; they are drilling it to determine size and quantity, as I mentioned, expect news shortly.
One thing more, there was a recent press release stating that, without cash arriving from a different area, MUX would have to arrange some form of financing to continue development of other projects. IMO, sale of Los Azules is the answer to MUX cash needs.
Patience now will result in near-future gains.