My grandfather purchased some stock in Monpre Mining Company, Ltd., in 1957. The company changed its name in the 1960s to Monpre Iron Mines Ltd. One of the stockholders’ reports in my possession refers to a quote in The Northern Miner of April 18, 1957, saying “Chances for Monpre’s iron property in northwestern Ontario still appear as good as ever.” A later, similar quote is also referenced, but no date is mentioned.
I hold in my hand the original stock certificates and wonder whether they are of any value. I have not been able to locate any source of information on Monpre — whether it still exists under a different name, went “belly-up,” or whatever.
Allan Clark,
Charlottesville, Va.
Monpre Iron Mines lost its charter in 1983, but the charter was revived in 1994, and last year the company was renamed Techoldmin Ltd. in a reverse takeover.
Monpre’s history goes back to 1953, when Monpre Uranium Exploration was formed. The company’s name was changed to Monpre Mining in 1956, without any change to its capital structure. Your grandfather’s stock was bought in 1957, after the first name change.
Monpre was listed on the Montreal-based Canadian Stock Exchange, a junior stock market that merged with the larger Montreal Exchange in 1974. The company mainly held properties in Ontario, though it did have one in the Northwest Territories. Its major asset was a 133-claim property (21 sq. km) in Duckworth and Laurie twps., about 60 km west of Thunder Bay, held under patent — that is, enough work had been done on the claims to entitle Monpre to a deed. Drilling had outlined an iron deposit of 110 million tonnes grading just over 29% iron.
Shares were consolidated in July 1967, when shareholders received one share of Monpre Iron Mines for every five Monpre Mining. At about the same time, the company lost its listing on the CSE, where the old shares (pre-consolidation) had been trading in the range 3 cents to 6.5 cents.
The company continued work at the Laurie Twp. claims, sending samples for metallurgical testing. Ultimately, the company fell victim to the early-1980s recession and, in March 1983, its charter was cancelled.
Current claim maps for Duckworth and Laurie twps. show no patented claims in the area, so the property must have been returned to the Crown and reopened for staking. Bernard Schneiders, one of the Ontario government’s regional geologists in Thunder Bay, tells The Northern Miner that most of the present activity in the Laurie Twp. area has centred on gold exploration, with
The Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations admitted Monpre back to the register in December 1994, which allowed a former executive of the company, William Paterson, to find a group to take the company over. At a meeting of shareholders on Aug. 17 of last year, shares were consolidated again so that shareholders received one share in the new company, Techoldmin, for three Monpre Iron shares.
The new directors are Paterson, Robert Callander, Wayne Ewert and Dino Titaro; Ewert and Titaro are from the consulting and exploration services firm A.C.A. Howe International. Techoldmin’s office address is 36 Lombard St., Toronto, Ont. M5C 2X3; its telephone number is (416) 868-6620 and its fax, (416) 868-6640.
The new company is a reporting issuer in Ontario but is not yet quoted on an exchange. Chances are it will go to the Canadian Dealing Network (CDN) quotation system.
As part of the takeover deal, the company got title to two properties. One is in the Quevillon area of northwestern Quebec, and has some copper and gold showings; the other is in the Okak Bay area of Labrador, 110 km north of the Voisey’s Bay nickel deposit. Both have been subjected to reconnaissance-level grassroots exploration.
The most recent financial statements (Sept. 30, 1998) show a working capital deficit of $83,950, so the company will have to issue more shares to finance future exploration. Doing that will further dilute the interest held by the old Monpre shareholders, but at least the company will recover some value for them.
Techoldmin’s share transfer agent is Equity Transfer Services, 120 Adelaide St. W., Suite 420, Toronto, Ont. M5H 4C3. The telephone number is (416) 361-0152. Equity Transfer does not charge a fee to issue new post-consolidation certificates to individuals, as long as the registration remains the same.
Shareholders of the old Monpre Mining get one new Techoldmin share for every 15 Monpre Mining, so you may want to hold off making the transfer until Techoldmin is quoted on an exchange. Once it has a listing, you can decide whether your grandfather’s holding is worth enough to merit transferring into your name.
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