Page 54 It took Robert McEwen 13 long years to make it back to gold mining along the AbitibiGreenstone belt in the T immins area but he has returned with McEwen Min ing purchasing the assets Black Fox Mine and Mill from Primero Mining Corp on Highway 101 just east of Matheson On August 10th this past summer McEwen Mining NYSE MUX TSX MUX purchased Primero s Black Fox mine and associated assets located near T immins Ontaro for 35 million in cash The deal closed on Oc tober 6th Buying the Black Fox Complex provides fantastic syn er gies with our recently acquired T immins deposits Our objective is to build a longterm production platform with a robust pipeline of production development and exploration assets all feeding into a single processing fa cility This acquisition will add immediately to our gold production but is just the beginning of a new chapter of growth for McEwen Mining said Rob McEwen Chair man and Chief Owner Black Fox comes with a talented operating team an un der ground mine producing 5060000 ounces of gold in 20171 a processing facility with excess capacity two future developm ent opportunities and excellent explora tion potential Combined with our existing portfolio of T immins deposits I believe this is a logical and potent combination Primero will have received total consideration of 325 million following a closing net working capital adjust ment of 25 million This includes 275 million in cash proceeds and the expected release of 50 million from restricted cash that was pledged towards environmental closure liabilities in the amount of 165 million which will be assumed by McEwen The proceeds net of clos ing costs from the sale of the Black Fox Complex have been used to permanently reduce the outstanding balance on the Company s revolving credit facility RCF When released the restricted cash will also be applied to reduce the outstanding balance of the RCF and follow ing which Primero will have an additional 50 million of available credit for further drawdown if required Primero Mining will continue to operate its 100 owned San Dimas goldsilver mine and the Cerro del Gallo gold silver copper development project in Mexico McEwen almost made it to the T immins area back in 2004 when as Chairman of Goldcorp he was negotiating for control of Placer Dome s Dome mine and mill in South Porcupine But as the multibid sale stalled and negotia tions looked to be moving in American Barrick s favour McEwen left Goldcorp and turned the reins over to Ian T elfer who concluded the purchase T elfer had joined Goldcorp a short time earlier when Goldcorp bought his company Silver Wheaton a silver mining company T oday Goldcorp has grown to the one of the top ten gold producers in the world In 2016 Goldcorp was the 4th lar gest gold producer with 287 million announces be hind Barrick Gold 552M Newmont Mining 49M and Anglo Gold Ashanti 363 M It owns several prop erties in T immins including the Dome Mine and Mill in South Porcupine Hallnor and Hollinger Open Pit It also purchased the Borden Lake property near Chapleau from Probe mines which it plans to open as a fully automated gold mine McEwen left Goldcorp to focus on junior mining activ ity in 2004 shortly after the friendly mer ger with Silver Wheaton It was time for Goldcorp to get new blood and leadership McEwen told the Goldcorp board explaining his departure from the company he founded in 1986 and had guided to becoming one of the world s major gold producers After acquiring US Gold and expanding its assets McE wen mer ged with Minera Andes to create McEwen Min ing a gold silver and copper producer with projects in Nevada Mexico and Ar gentina And now along the Abiti biGreenstone belt in Matheson Ontario Canada Robert McEwen a mining giant r eturns to T imminsMatheson Page 54 By Frank Giorno