New projects taking priority at Meridian

With its major development project still on hold, Reno-based Meridian Gold is giving more importance to early-stage exploration in Nevada, Newfoundland and Peru.

And company executives emphasized last week that Meridian is building cash balances cash that might prove useful if any of those exploration projects are promising.

For the quarter ended Sept.

30, Meridian reported last week it earned $7.9 million on sales of $29.8 million.

That compares with net of $9.2 million on sales of $33.6 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Much of the decline in revenues, the company said, resulted from the sale of its 30 percent interest in the Jerritt Canyon mine in northeast Nevada this year.

A major drilling effort, meanwhile, is under way at the company's Rossi property on the Carlin Trend of central Nevada, and Meridian Chief Executive Officers Brian Kennedy said results have been more promising than the company expected.

Barrick Gold is paying all the costs of that drilling and has the right

to earn a 60 percent interest in the property by spending $15 million in exploration.

In Newfoundland, meanwhile, Meridian signed a joint venture agreement with Linear Resources to explore a potential mining property.

Wayne Hubert, Meridian's vice president of corporate development and investor relations, said the property was staked by a prospector who followed goldbearing boulders carried by a glacier back to their source.Where the trail of boulders stopped, the prospector figured a gold deposit was located.

Meridian in recent weeks also established a 50-50 joint venture with Gitennes Exploration Inc.

to explore property in the Andes Mountains of north central Peru.

Kennedy noted that Meridian has built its cash position to $157 million, up 27 percent from a year earlier.

That's money available to finance exploration operations.

The emphasis on new exploration comes as Meridian's project at its Esquel mine in Argentina remains on hold.

That project drew strong opposition from surrounding residents this year, and the company said last week it continues to study residents' concerns.

Meridian's production during the third quarter came entirely from its El Penon property in Chile.

That mine produced 81,000 ounces of gold at a cash price of $60 an ounce.