Pezim keen on Jamaican play, reflects on Corona’s history

While it might seem Murray Pezim is more involved in football than mining these days, Canada’s best-known promoter is still keeping his hand in the game with a number of his junior companies, including Golden Ring Resources (VSE) which is currently drilling a copper-gold property in Jamaica.

The most recent holes drilled on this property returned 320 ft. of 0.46% copper and 0.005 oz. gold per ton at Connors, and 730 ft. of 0.48% copper and 0.006 oz. gold at Camel Hill. A second rig is about to arrive from Canada to step up the pace of the stepout drill program.

Besides anticipating more drill results, Pezim is awaiting the outcome of last December’s submission to the British Columbia Court of Appeal on the matter of the 1990 British Columbia Securities Commission hearing which found that he and several associates had contravened disclosure requirements. But Pezim has also been watching developments at his onetime flagship company,

International Corona (TSE), which is expected to merge with American mining giant Homestake Mining (NYSE).

“To me it’s sad, and an end of a story,” Pezim says cryptically; “a story about winners and losers.”

Years ago Pezim lost control of Corona to financier Ned Goodman, who recently announced he would tender his Corona shares to the Homestake offer. Goodman’s Dundee Bancorp (TSE) is Corona’s largest shareholder, with

an approximate 30% equity interest.

But while at the helm of Corona, Goodman pursued an ambitious expansion strategy into oil and gas and base metals that left the company burdened with debt and, in recent months, struggling to meet its financial obligations. Corona’s share price declined steadily as the true financial condition of the company became more apparent.

While it’s no secret Pezim is unhappy with how Corona was managed, he stops short at publicly criticizing Goodman. But he is not shy about blowing his own horn for his legendary financing abilities which led to the development of the Jolu mine in Saskatchewan, the Snip and Eskay Creek gold deposits in British Columbia, and the multimillion-dollar orebodies at Hemlo, Ont. “I put a lot of good things in that company (Corona) and would love to have got it back,” Pezim says. “But things didn’t work out that way.” Indeed, Pezim is finding it more difficult to keep his own stable of juniors active now that exploration financing has become difficult to raise. His new flagship is Prime Equities (VSE), a company involved in exploration, mine development and production as well as industrial ventures.

At the end of January, Prime Equities’ asset base (primarily its direct and indirect interests in companies of the Prime Equities group) was estimated at $26.4 million in cash and marketable securities. Of this amount, $10 million are cash reserves.

Prime Equities realizes cash flow from the Goldstream mine, a copper-zinc-silver mine in British Columbia. Another important asset is Adrian Resources (VSE), which owns a portion of Eskay Creek reserves because of a claim gap on the Eskay Creek property.

The Pezim stable of juniors will be continuing exploration on select properties in northwestern British Columbia, although on a lesser scale and with tougher criteria than in recent years.

“It has become difficult to raise money in this market for the kinds of grassroots projects we financed in the past,” says Chet Idziszek, president of most of Pezim’s stable of juniors. “We are now taking on more advanced projects, and the money in our treasury will be for the cream of the crop.”