NEWS ROUNDUP — Kerr Addison calls it a day

A company whose history reaches back more than half a century, is slowly winding down.

Kerr Addison Mines (TSE) recently sold its exploration assets to Metall Mining (TSE) for $23.5 million. The holdings include the Troilus property in Quebec, the Petaquilla copper property in Panama and grassroots plays in Canada, the U.S. and Latin America.

Metall also bought Kerr’s investments in Adrian Resources (VSE), MSV Inc. (ME) and RFC Resource Finance Corp.

With the sale, coming as it does on the heels of the sale of Kerr’s interest in Minnova Inc. (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Metall), Kerr has no operating units.

In fact, the winding-down process began in 1986 when Kerr sold its gold mine in Virginiatown, Ont. In its prime, the Kerr Addison mine put out more than 500,000 oz. per year.

Kerr now has a sizable kitty of about $210 million in cash and short-term securities. (This money has been pooled within the Noranda group of companies and is available, through fixed and floating rate loans, to other group companies.) Kerr also holds 3.9% of parent Noranda Inc. (TSE) and a small piece of Canadian Hunter.