MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — Placer offers to buy out Lassie Red Lake

Placer Dome (PDG-T) intends to take over junior Lassie Red Lake Gold Mines (LRLG-C) by increasing its ownership to 100% from the current 47.3%.

Lassie owns five gold exploration claims adjacent to Placer’s Campbell mine in Ontario’s Red Lake gold camp.

Asked why Placer made the buy-out offer, the major’s spokesman, Hugh Leggatt, told The Northern Miner: “It was in our interest to change Lassie to a wholly owned subsidiary from a publicly traded company in order to eliminate the cost of administering a public company. The amalgamation will eliminate that administrative burden while securing the property for Placer.” For a time, it was believed the Lassie property might contain the same rock units that host the gold ore at Campbell.

However, in a letter to Lassie shareholders in 1995, then-president Tim Mann outlined the disappointing status of the claims, which, essentially, has not changed:

“Surface geological mapping, a detailed ground magnetometer survey and an airborne magnetic and radiometric survey were carried out on the property at Placer Dome’s expense. No mineralized zones or deposits were identified following the surface work. . . . A geological compilation and full interpretation of the results of the program has not been undertaken and, under prevailing circumstances, this work may be several years away.” The property consists predominantly of the downdip extension of mineralized zones previously identified at Campbell. Geological projections indicate that these mineralized zones, if continuous, could intersect the Lassie property, albeit at significantly lower elevations than existing or proposed development at Campbell.

The proposed takeover is subject to the approval of shareholders and regulators.