News

February 05, 2010

A New Broom Sweeps In At Eskay Mining, Bringing A Renewed Focus On Properties On The Prolific Eskay Golden Triangle

By Alastair Ford

Eskay Mining, not long since known by the slightly more cumbersome name of Kenrich Eskay, has been through some major upheavals over the past few months. The key moment was when Hugh Balkam first came onto the board as chairman, following October’s AGM. A month later, and president and chief executive Wally Boguski was heading for the exit, and Hugh, or Mac, as he’s known, suddenly found himself in the hot seat. Investors wondering about the new man and his precipitous arrival should at least know that his credentials look fairly impeccable – for 13 years he was with the Canadian Mounties, specializing in, wait for it, stock market-related fraud. That was many years ago, though. Since then he’s become well established in the mining and capital markets, and a few years ago formed a relationship with the then Kenrich-Eskay as a consultant on the financing side. UK-based investors will also be interested to learn that he also has an established contact base running through London, via Ambrian’s Julian Emery and the ubiquitous Tony Mahalski.

On assuming the role of chief executive Mac stated that he’d been “intrigued” by the company’s extensive landholding to the south of Barrick Gold’s prolific Eskay Creek mine in north west British Columbia. Extensive is right – Eskay Mining, as it became as soon as Mac took the helm, holds around 130,000 acres in the vicinity of Eskay Creek. And if you’re not sure why that’s intriguing, take a quick look at how many ounces Silver Standard and Seabridge Gold have managed to find in the...