Mid-tier producers abound at Denver Gold Forum

Denver, CO – Day two of the Denver Gold Forum brings on the mid-tier producers, with talk of sustaining growth, mergers and acquisitions activities, development pipelines and exploration projects.

Joseph Conway, Iamgold (IMG-T, IAG-N) president and CEO, charted out the companys growth profile towards the million oz. gold producer level. He also touched on its corporate evolution – from listing in 1996 to the mergers with Repadre in 2003, Gallery Gold in 2007 and finally with Cambior this year, all leading to an objective of 30% organic growth in gold output over the 4-5 years.

An update by Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM-T, AEM-N) saw Sean Boyd, vice-chair and CEO, emphasize the companys exploration initiative and stating weve avoided buying peoples tired old mines. The company has stuck to regions of low political risk with projects in Canada, Finland, Mexico and the U.S.

Boyd described Agnicos LaRonde mine in Quebec as the cash-flow engine of the company which were using to build five new gold mines.

Following yesterdays announcement of a definitive support agreement, Yamana Gold (YRI-T, AUY-N, YAU-L) and Meridian Gold (MNG-T, MDG-N) shared a presentation slot, reaffirming the merits of the takeover deal.

Newly-listed Russian company Polymetal (PMTL-L) presented itself as the worlds largest primary silver producer with 2006 output of 17.3 million oz. Its projects are all in Russia including the flagship Dukat mine, in the far northeast, touted as the third largest silver mine on the globe. Company CEO Vitaly Nesis explained Polymetal is also Russias number three gold producer with more than 250,000 oz. mined in 2006.

During Northgate Minerals (NGX-T, NXG-X) presentation, company president and CEO Ken Stowe could not hide the disappointment following the recent review panel recommendation that the companys Kemess North project should not proceed to development. He eluded that cash accumulated for planned Kemess North development would now likely be reallocated towards other projects or acquisitions, and that hes had lots of phone calls in the last week.

It (the review panel recommendation) has made our life a lot simpler, said Stowe explaining the company now will not be committing any cash towards Kemess North.

Stowe emphasized the growth potential being realized at the companys Young Davidson project in northeastern Ontario where $27 million in exploration is earmarked for this year. Northgate expects to see the resource base rise from about 2.1 million oz. gold to the 3-million oz. level and hopes to get the project into production by 2010 when Kemess South reserves will be exhausted.

When asked if the company would challenge the Kemess North review panel recommendation, Stowe said we are not going to spend millions of dollars of our shareholders money fighting the un-winnable fight.

The next presenter, Eldorado Gold (ELD-T), touched on the recent court ordered closure of its Kisladag mine in Turkey following challenges to the companys environmental impact assessment on the project.

Paul Wright, company president and CEO, confirmed Eldorado has temporarily ceased operations at the mine to abide with the order but expects to see resolution through the courts. Remaining confident with Turkey as country of operations, the company will make a construction decision at its Efemcukuru project by yearend.