Reprinted from the Shoshone News-Press, January 8, 1997
By Barry Espenson

KELLOGG - The partners in the fledgling New Jersey mine have taken the "first baby step" toward going public with an offering of 100,000 shares of common stock. "There seems to be a fair amount of interest locally" in the stock, said Fred Brackebusch, whose Mine Systems Design Inc. holds 75 percent of the existing stock in the newly created New Jersey Mining Company. The stock is being offered at $1 per share. The stock has been advertised since its Jan. 1 offering date in the Silver Valley and, more recently, in the Lewiston and Boise areas. Partners in the corporation have also made "all of our own contacts" aware of the stock offering, Brackebusch said.

"We'’ve actually received the money for about 10 percent" of the offering as of Tuesday, said Brackebusch, who serves as company president and mine manager. He said he has verbal commitments for additional shares.

The intent of the offering is to raise funding for the completion of the New Jersey mill’s cyanidation plant, which will greatly enhance gold recovery. The company began processing ore from an open pit mine on the Coleman vein above the Big Creek golf course in 1995. The ore is processed at the New Jersey mill east of Elizabeth Park. A 100-ton per day gravity circuit was built first. A crushing plant was built and commissioned this past summer, allowing full operations to commence.

The current operation recovers approximately 60 percent of the gold from the ore. The addition of the cyanidation system, a chemical process that pulls microscopic particles of gold from the ore, will boost recovery to an estimated 90 percent. "We’re actually under way with that right now," Brackebusch said of the cyanidation system installation. The cost of the project is approximately $100,000, the exact amount the stock offering would bring in. It is expected to be completed by June.

Secondary uses for the money from the stock offering would be to exercise an option to buy majority interest in Gold Run Gulch Mining Company, from which New Jersey leases much of the property to be mined. That would effectively relieve the New Jersey of the obligation to pay royalties that are in the terms of the lease. Another possible use of stock sale proceeds would be to drill exploration holes on the property.

The stock sale, cyanidation circuit, and the purchase of Gold Run majority interest, would mark the end of the current phase of the corporation’s development plan. Long-term plans include additional stock offerings to fund future projects. They include a diamond drilling program of about 10,000 feet at a cost of about $300,000. The company would like to complete the drilling project in 1998. Underground development, at an estimated cost of $800,000, is also in the plans. The goal, according to information in the offering circular, is to begin the underground development in 1998.

For information about the offering, contact Brackebusch at (208) 783-3331. Requests for circulars can be faxed to the same number. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1019, Kellogg, Idaho 83837.