Op/Ed: Those Magnesium Claims Sold, or Maybe Not, Who Knows?
By Rossland Telegraph
West High Yield Resources Ltd. and the Record Ridge claims:
Rosslanders have been hearing from representatives of West High Yield ("WHY") about mineral claims on and around Record Ridge that could be developed into a magnesium mine for some years now. Some residents have been excited about the prospects of employment, development, a more robust community economy, more children to populate Rossland schools, and so on. Others have been perturbed by thoughts of a gigantic open-pit mine on Record Ridge, waste rock filling Record Creek, dust filling the air, traffic filling local roads, and any other unpleasant effects of the potential mine.
Still others have wondered whether the whole enterprise might be just another attempt to get money from, or for, shareholders, with claims that will never be developed.
Of course, any business is subject to many external forces. There are no doubt good reasons why the WHY claims have not given rise to any actual mine as per the speculative schedule published as part of WHY's promotional materials in 2011, projecting that the mine would be "ready for production around Q4/2013 ― Q1/2014."
The most recent development is a press release dated October 5, 2017, announcing a potential sale of all of WHY's interest in the property to Gryphon Enterprises in Maryland, USA, for $750 Million USD, but subject to a number of conditions that have not yet been met.
The press release is cushioned with clauses that caution readers not to take any of it as established fact, starting with these two paragraphs and continuing on in a cautionary vein for several more:
"Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSX Venture Exchange acceptance. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed on the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
"Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the information circular to be prepared in connection with the Company's annual and special meeting or as otherwise disclosed in the Agreement, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. "
Frank Marasco, President and CEO of WHY, has not yet responded to a question about the claimed ownership of land. The WHY website contains this statement: "West High Yield Resources owns 100% of 7,891 square contiguous hectares which will support open pit mine and processing facilities."
On October 19, the Rossland Telegraph asked, "Can you tell me whether that ownership is fee simple title registered at the Land Registry Office? Or is it just ownership of the mineral claims that cover that land?" and also commented, "I do note that saying “square hectares” is a bit odd. A hectare is an area of land equivalent to 2.47105 acres."
We are also curious about which "sea port" is "nearby" as claimed on WHY's website, but did not ask. After all, nearness can be relative.
Fellow Rosslanders, please don't hold your breath or get stressed about this. Perhaps the mineral claims will eventually result in a mine. Or not.
