BRIAN Johnson played a large part in establishing two iron ore producers in Portman and then Mount Gibson Iron (MGX), as well as Austral Coal (AGD), and is now chairman of underground coal gasifier Linc Energy (LNC).
But before all this he was in the gold mining business in North America.
His focus once again is gold -- but this time in Latin America. The Dominican Republic doesn't sound like everyone's cup of tea, but there is some big-time mining going on there, including Toronto-based Barrick Gold, which is developing a 22.5 million ounce gold deposit, and Freeport's huge nickel laterite mine.
Johnson's EnviroGold (EVG) is Barrick's neighbour. The junior has had its setbacks -- it has replaced both its bankers and its engineering team -- but now seems set to go. During the week it locked in $2 million through a placement, and construction will start in October.
EnviroGold was floated three years ago to reopen old mines in Latin America where gold and silver had been left behind because of technology limitations. The company is using an Xstrata technology that extracts gold and silver by removing sulphur, arsenic and other impurities.
The first test will be the Las Lagunas tailings project in the Dominican Republic. The tailings were left from the operation of the Pueblo Viejo mine and there's 5.1 million tonnes at 3.8 grams/tonne gold and 38.6g/t silver. But the company is already looking at three other potential acquisitions in South America. Macquarie Group (MQG) is the second largest shareholder in EnviroGold.
EVG Price at posting:
6.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
