Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 19 November 2008 |
A trade mission to China, Japan and South Korea has provided a chance for B.C.-based junior mining companies, some with projects in northern B.C., to make contact with potential Asian investors, Mining Minister Gordon Hogg said Wednesday.
Four of the seven companies on the trade mission -- BCM Resources, Pacific Brooker Minerals, Newmac Resources and Copper Fox Metals -- have exploration properties in north or central B.C. The other three B.C.-based companies have projects in China, Quebec and Utah.
Hogg, who spoke to reporters from South Korea, said the junior B.C. companies were looking for investors because money has dried up in North America because of the financial meltdown here.
While no agreements were signed on the trip, the companies were pleased to find that companies in Asia are still looking for investment opportunities, said Hogg, who is leading the two-week tour which began Nov. 7. China, in particular, sees the global economic slowdown as a time to get a good return on investment, explained Hogg.
"(The B.C. companies) are looking at partnerships, they're looking at people who might be picking up a portion of their company, in some cases, some of the companies are prepared to sell to some of the offshore companies to take full control," said Hogg.
"In some instances the Chinese and the Koreans are saying that they would like to have control over some of the (B.C.) companies so they can control some of their supply lines."
Hogg stressed the trade mission was not meant as an exercise in signing deals, but rather to build relationships, a key component in doing business in Asia. He said those efforts were very much in the "embryonic" stage.
However, Hogg said that Newmac Resources Inc., which has a pair of projects in the Chilcotin area south of Prince George, has managed to gather 11 leads. Copper Fox Metals Inc., which has a project in northwestern B.C., also was pleased with the leads it gathered, noted Hogg.
The kind of agreements that can be reached was demonstrated by Goldbrook Ventures Inc. which had a signing ceremony in China for a deal reached earlier in the year. Vancouver-based Goldbrook entered into an option agreement with Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co. for exploration and development of a project in Quebec. The Chinese company can earn a 50 per cent interest in the project by providing $45 million over three years to fund exploration on the project.
While the B.C.-based companies were focused on securing investors, Hogg said he was having discussions with government officials on general market opportunities. He said he heard both in Japan and Korea that there is a continuing interest in coal.
One of B.C.'s coal-producing regions is northern B.C., in the Tumbler Ridge-area about 150 kilometres north of Prince George.
Hogg noted that while the global economic slowdown had affected the giant emerging economy of China, it was still expecting growth of 10.4 per cent this year, well above western industrialized countries. China is also undertaking a massive rebuild of its infrastructure which will continue to drive demand, added Hogg.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 19 November 2008 )
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