FINANCING: Northgate, Alexis raise money for new mines

ONTARIO and MANITOBA - Raising over $200 million for promising new Canadian mines is always good news, and it is no surprise that gold is attracting the gelt.

Vancouver's Northgate Minerals has increased its convertible note offering to US$150 million as a result of strong investor demand. The notes are due in 2016 and carry a semi-annual interest coupon of 3.5%. The underwriting syndicate is led by USB Securities. Northgate will use the money to develop its Young-Davidson gold project near Timmins, ON. Production is to come from both open pit and underground sources with average annual output of 180,000 oz of gold. More information is available at www.NorthgateMinerals.com.

In central Manitoba, near Snow Lake, Alexis Minerals of Toronto is preparing its Snow Lake gold mine for production. Toward that end the company has arranged a five-year financing facility of C$60 million. The first tranche, $45 million, is for preproduction capital spending in the 12 months following the official production decision. The second tranche consists of $15 million in working capital. The Snow Lake mine operated from 1949 to 1958 as the Nor-Acme and again from 1995 and 2005 when it was known as the New Britannia mine. Technical reports are posted at www.AlexisMinerals.com.