Toronto-listed Vestgron active concern once again

There’s no denying that Vestgron Mines has had its share of ups and downs over the past year, but now that this Toronto-listed company has been acquired by a private Halifax-based investment company, it is gearing up to be an active concern.

As recalled, Vestgron sold its 100% interest in Greenex A/S to Boliden AB last summer. Greenex was operator of the Black Angel zinc-lead mine near Maarmorilik, Greenland. At that time, Vestgron was still in the fold of Cominco Ltd. That all changed in the fall when Vestgron became the subj ect of a bidding war between Zenmac Zinc and CanEast Capital of Halifax.

CanEast has emerged from that battle holding the common shares of Vestgron. Brian Flemming, the new president of Vestgron, is no stranger to the mining industry as he sits on the board of directors of both Noranda Inc. and Brunswick Mining and Smelting.

Mr Flemming sees Vestgron as continuing its role as a holding company, adding that it will be involved in both resource and non- resource areas.

To that end, Vestgron has to date acquired two wholly-owned subsidiaries. One is Halifax-based Thunder Resources Ltd. which Mr Flemming says will become Vestgron’s resource arm. At this point, Thunder is inactive and does not hold any property, but Mr Flemming says the company is looking at possibilities in Nova Scotia.

Vestgron has already filed with the Registrar under the Securities Act for Nova Scotia a registration statement and prospectus relating to the issue of up to 3,000 flow- through units at a price of $1,000 per unit for sale in Nova Scotia only.

These units will give their holders the right to acquire 250 flow- through common shares to which the company will be able to renounce Canadian Exploration Expense and Mining Exploration Depletion Allowance earned by it during a taxation year.

The offer is to be made in N.S. and will be subject to regulatory approval.

In the non-resource area, Vestgron has acquired all the shares of Halifax-based Teck Investments Incorporated. Teck Investments has no relation to Norman Keevil’s Teck Corp. says Mr Flemming.

Teck Investments has applied for registration as a venture capital corporation under the Venture Corporations Act of N.S. It would, if registered become eligible upon equity investments in approved Nova Scotia companies to receive matching interest free loans for 10 years from the N.S. Venture Corporations Board.

Teck Investments first investment is the purchase of a 25% of the common shares of Surfline Engineering of Dartmouth, N.S., an engineering firm engaged in the design and manufacture of computer-based control systems.

Vestgron’s audited financial statements for 1986 show corporate income of $233,799 or 5.5 cents per share. This figure includes an extraordinary gain of $338,080 resulting from the sale of its subsidiary company Greenex A/S.