Amax drilling at Haile

With its purchase option expiring May 1, 1992, Amax Gold (NYSE) is operating three drill rigs on the Haile gold property near Kershaw, S.C.

Amax can earn a 62.5% interest in the property from Piedmont Mining (NASDAQ) by paying the company US$1.75 million plus one million common shares of Amax. The company has not yet advised Piedmont whether it plans to exercise the option.

Drilling by Amax last year outlined an estimated preliminary reserve of 8.5 million tons grading 0.08 oz. gold with a strip ratio of 4.3-to-1 based on a cutoff grade of 0.025 oz. gold.

Piedmont started its heap leach operations at Haile in 1985 but suspended its mining and stacking operations in August, 1991, when oxide reserves were exhausted.

Leaching operations are continuing and Amax is studying the possibility of building a mill facility to process 4,000-5,000 tons of ore per day for a year production of roughly 100,000 oz. at an estimated cost of about US$200 per oz.

Piedmont reported a net loss of US$2.89 million for the

year ended Dec. 31, 1991 compared with net earnings of US$210,000 in 1990. Revenue for the year was US$4.5 million, down from US$8.7 million as a result of lower gold production after the suspension of mining activity.