OTHER’S WORDS (July 20, 1992)

What is the largest gold producer in Canada? I’m sure some of you will say it’s the Hemlo mine or perhaps Campbell Red Lake, but you will be wrong. The largest gold producer in Canada is in fact the Bank of Canada. Ten years ago, in 1980, Canada’s gold reserves were 22 million oz., today they’re down to about 12 million oz. For the past five years the government of Canada has been selling over one million oz. of gold a year from the country’s reserves, the equivalent of more than 25% of Canadian mine production. Why is the government of Canada consistently selling gold, even at recent depressed prices, and helping to drive down the price of gold to the detriment of the Canadian mining industry?

— From a presentation by Northgate Exploration Chairman John Kearney at the 1992 Mineral Economics Symposium, sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.