Dickenson unaffected by take over

“It’s business as usual,” President John Kachmar told The Northern Miner at the annual meeting.

“They’re very supportive of our objectives as set out in the annual report,” he said of the gold fund company.

While management at Dickenson — and associated company Kam-Kotia Mines (TSE) which was also taken over by Goldcorp — has stayed in place, Goldcorp has made its presence felt by having two representatives named to Dickenson’s 8-member board of directors.

Goldcorp, which outbid Corona Corp. (TSE) for the two companies, has acquired about 96% of Kam-Kotia’s common shares and, through Kam-Kotia, owns more than 50% of Dickenson.

In 1988, Dickenson, operator of the A.W. White gold mine in the Red Lake area of northwestern Ontario, recorded net income of $6.1 million (41 cents per share) after extraordinary items on revenue of $46.5 million, compared with net income of $6.4 million (44 cents per share) on revenue of $44.1 million the previous year. Higher output

Gold production at the White mine last year totalled 70,200 oz, with Dickenson’s proportionate share amounting to 60,000 oz. (Dickenson acquired a 100% interest in the mine last June when it bought the 34% interest belonging to Cambior Inc.) Output from the White mine in 1987 totalled 63,800 oz. The acquisition was financed through a 100,000-oz gold loan.

Improvements undertaken last year at the mining operation, including in the areas of backfill placement and mine development, boosted operating costs but also allowed the company to significantly hike output during the second half. The mine’s 1988 operating cost, including corporate overhead allocations, was $347(US) per oz. Capital expenditures last year totalled $1.6 million.

Proven and probable reserves at the mine, at the end of 1988, stood at 3.3 million tons grading 0.32 oz gold per ton.

Dickenson is forecasting output of 82,000 oz for 1989 from the White mine at a milling rate of 900 tons per day.

In British Columbia, Dickenson’s silver-lead-zinc Silvana mine reported operating income of $1.3 million for 1987, down from $1.9 million the year before. The company blames the income decline on lower silver prices and the lower grade milled (which was partially offset by an 8% rise in tonnage milled.)

At the company’s Havelock Lime Works near Moncton, N.B., a new shaft kiln was commissioned last year. The company reports that it has corrected technical problems that had been restricting production of the kiln.

Among Dickenson’s other assets is a 37.12% interest in Wharf Resources (TSE), which operates a heap leach gold mine in South Dakota. (See separate story.)

Among the members retiring from the Dickenson board was a former president of the company, Arthur White, after whom the Ontario mine is named. White was given the honorary title of director emeritus.

Named to the board was the president of Goldcorp, R. R. McEwen, and Goldcorp director Donald Haldenby. The other six members are Kachmar, R. P. Douglas (chairman), R. J. Hicks, J. C. McCartney, G. E. Pralle and C. K. Taylor.

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