Success, Sheridan style, may come to Guyana

Anyone who has had business dealings with J.P. (Pat) Sheridan agrees one would have to get up early to outwit him — a deal maker extraordinaire.

Somewhat of a loner and gadfly but with the patience of Job, he has both guts and the smarts, making waves in the mining business from the day he graduated from the University of Toronto in engineering geophysics in 1955. “Pat’s either a good friend or a formidable adversary who seems to like litigation,” says longtime acquaintance Al Storey. He is an extremely versatile person, competent, and generous to people who have remained with him, Storey adds.

Just what he spends each year on lawyers’ fees he will not tell, but it must be substantial. “We don’t sue,” he says. “We simply defend ourselves.” But a current exception would be a multimillion-dollar case against Minnova Inc., pertaining to his Zenmac Zinc’s rich Winston Lake mine which it holds under option. Scheduled to come up in April, this should be interesting. Operating from a spacious office in the heart of Toronto’s business district, Sheridan has several dozen junior companies under his wing, with scores of unhappy shareholders. Who else would call an annual meeting for 9 a.m. on a Saturday?

Travelling extensively, he knows the Canadian mining scene like a book, but doesn’t like what he sees today. He thinks Ontario is a basket case, taking a dim view of its costly bureaucracy building ever more hurdles to retard mining. (Most of his legal cases are against various arms of government.) And it’s getting worse, he says, citing an upcoming requirement that over $1 billion of “dead capital” be put up to close mines even before they get into production.

He also thinks Ontario’s “scorched earth” policy is wrong. “I firmly believe the Renabie gold mine, which recently provided 10,000 man years of jobs, would never have reopened had its mill and plant been demolished,” he says. And he cites Kirkland Lake, where all mills except Macassa’s were torn down to avoid taxes. Now the government offers $1 million cash to anyone who will put up a new one. It’s the same story on the Steep Rock iron range, where not a semblance of mining remains in that once bustling district. Exemplifying this man’s modus operandi is his White Star Copper Mines. Moving with lightning speed, it acquired several small groups of patented ground near Texasgulf’s big Kidd Creek discovery at Timmins, Ont., in 1964. One of these, almost abutting that huge orebody, has never been drilled. He could have dealt it a hundred times but his price tag was high — $l million cash and a $1-million work commitment. Holding out for 28 years, he recently turned it over to Falconbridge Ltd. on a favorable cash and smelter royalty basis. Almost overnight, White Star’s shares rose from 10 cents to 75 cents. “They are going to spend a lot of money on that property,” he says with a smile.

And there’s Madeleine Mines at Lac des Isles in northwestern Ontario, where he has almost single-handedly developed a major open pit

platinum-group-nickel-copper deposit and erected a 3,000-ton mill and mining plant at a cost of $28 million, which he personally raised. That project has now been turned over to strong U.S. interests who are adding finishing touches. Significantly, Sheridan retains a 50% interest in the property. Relieved of the Madeleine strain which demanded much of his time, he is now turning back to exploration which he enjoys. The vehicle will be TSE-listed New Golden Sceptre Minerals, control of which he acquired following the Hemlo gold boom. “We will be spending a lot of money on exploration this year, but not in Canada.”

For starters, he heads to Guyana to look things over. With a population of only 700,000, that little South American country was a major producer of bauxite (aluminum), gold and diamonds until 1965 when it turned to socialism following which virtually all mining ceased. All but bankrupt (wages slumped to 25 cents an hour in U.S. currency), a new government revised its mining act 20 years later, resulting in a major turnaround. An estimated $450 million will be spent on exploration in that country this year, equal to that in all Canada. And 75% of this will be by Canadian companies, he points out. Sheridan will also be active in Mexico and Central America.

With three sons and a daughter, the Sheridans live in one of Toronto’s upscale residential areas (with “his and hers” swimming pools and sauna). Mrs. Sheridan is very active in the Women’s Association of the Mining Industry of Canada.