$5m. financing plans in place Westfield keen on exploration

Financing arrangements designed to raise in excess of $5 million have been put in place, reports Westfield Minerals’ President Patrick J. Hughes.

The financing includes a private placement of two million common treasury shares for $1.25 per share issued to Whim Creek for a total of $2.5 million. Whim Creek was also granted a 3-year option on one million shares at $1.35 per share and a further one million shares at $1.65 per share.

To supplement this funding, a rights offering, open for subscription until Aug 28, was made to shareholders. One right was issued for each share held and four rights entitled the holder to subscribe for one new common share for $1.10.

This new funding will put the company in a much better position to not only make acquisitions but to also continue with its various explorations projects in the U.S. and Canada.

Reviewing the company’s activity in this country, Mr Hughes says Westfield has now earned a 50% interest in the Arseno Lake joint venture in the Pickle Lake, Ont., area, having contributed $500,000 to exploration costs over the last year. The other joint venture partners are Northern Dynasty Explorations and Newfield Minerals. Drilling is planned on these claims later this year.

Drilling is also slated for the company’s Dempster claims in the Pickle Lake area. Initial results from the ground exploration program indicate widespread anomalous gold values and new sulphide occurrences have also been located.

Diamond drilling will also be initiated at the company’s 704-claim Little River property in south- central Newfoundland. Mr Hughes says preliminary results from soil geochemistry, mapping, and prospecting have been very encouraging, particularly the discovery of extensive stratabound occurrences of disseminated to semi-massive arsenopyrite with anomalous gold values across significant widths. This $400,000 exploration program is funded by joint venture partners The Coniagas Mines and Anglo- Dominion Gold Exploration.

Westfield has also started exploration on a 6,200-acre property, 10 km east of Flin Flon, Man. Following the end of the second quarter, the company entered an agreement whereby it can earn a 50% interest in the property by spending $285,000 by the end of 1988. It can increase this interest to 70% by spending an additional $1 million before the end of 1992. Westfield is committed to spend $35,000 this year.

In the U.S., Westfield has completed an initial exploration program and earned a 70% interest in the Summit King property, a former gold and silver mine east of Reno, Nev.

Mr Hughes says production at the Little Bald Mountain open pit heap leaching operation in northwestern Nevada is proceeding on schedule with an output of 4,300 oz of gold anticipated for the year. Westfield holds a 25% participation in the WX Synidicate which in turn holds a 43% interest in this mine.

At the Gator prospect, 10 miles south of Little Bald Mountain, a further 5,000 ft of drilling is planned for later this year.

For the six months ended June 30, Westfield posted a net loss of $280,993 on revenue of $97,288 compared to a net income of $453,012 on a revenue of $542,490 in the same period of 1985.

Cash at the end of this 6-month period stands at $67,256, down from the $1.1 million at the end of the comparable 1985 period.