NEVADA & THE WESTERN STATES — Romarco aims to build on past success

Following a momentous year culminating in the sale of its prized Midas project, Romarco Minerals (R-T) is getting back to the business of exploring for gold in Nevada.

In November 1998, Romarco sold its interest in the Midas project to Franco-Nevada Mining (FN-T) and Euro-Nevada Mining (en-t) for stock in both companies valued at US$33 million.

Celebrations were cut short, however, when Romarco faced a US$40-million legal complaint filed by the estate of Henry Belnap relating to Midas’s Belnap claims. The action was abandoned in March.

With significant cash in hand, Romarco carried out a share buy-back program over the winter, returning US$10 million to its shareholders and reducing the number of outstanding shares by 5 million, to 20.96 million. As of March 12, 1999, Romarco had cash and securities valued at $1.39 per share.

This year, Romarco has budgeted US$2.9 million for exploration in Nevada, with most of the work now under way. The budget is broken down among the various projects as follows: Goldfield, US$1 million; Red Rock, US$400,000; Converse-Nike, US$300,000; Mustang and Sonoma Canyons, US$300,000; Jake Creek, US$200,000; South Midas, US$150,000; and Golden Repeat, US$100,000.

At Goldfield, the exploration program will include additional geological mapping, geochemical sampling, geophysical surveying and district-wide diamond and reverse-circulation (RC) drilling totalling 20,000 ft.

At Red Rock, a minimum of 15,000 ft. of RC drilling will test high-grade gold mineralization in the main discovery area, as well as other prospective targets.

Romarco will also carry out 10,000 ft. and 7,000 ft. of drilling at the Converse and Jake Creek projects, respectively.