Golden Eagle comes under SEC scrutiny

Late last year, Golden Eagle International (MINE-Q Bulletin Board) reported that it was being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The company says the investigation was focused on its activities and on certain persons, but provided few other details. The SEC has refused comment, and the outcome is not yet known.

Late last year, the company retained a consultant to review an alluvial gold project in Bolivia’s Tipuani district. After 10 days in the field, where 107 samples were collected and assayed at a local laboratory, and after a further 21 days during which geological literature and information were reviewed, Bolivian consultant Guido Paravicini reported an indicated resource of 60.7 million oz., plus an inferred resource of 111.4 million oz.

This year, however, the company appears to have modified its claim to have an economic gold resource in Bolivia. In a recent SEC filing, the company says the report “cannot be interpreted as definitive” as the property has not been extensively drilled throughout its breadth and length. It further notes that the report was based on limited sampling and points out that alluvial deposits “may have small areas of higher-grade mineral content which would never be consistent with the entire prospect [and] which could have little or no valuable minerals, but [which] could require great expense to mine.” In other words, “no reader should expect, interpret or forecast any profitable mining operation due to many variables as yet unknown and unforeseen.”