Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 16/99) - Viceroy Resource Corp. has emerged as a possible buyer of the Giant mine. But the tire-kicking is in a "very" early stage, according to Mayor David Lovell.

Thursday morning, Lovell met with Eric Edwards, Viceroy vice-president and chief financial officer, and lawyer David Searle to discuss the Giant mine. Searle is a former speaker of the NWT legislative assembly.

"It's absolutely in the preliminary stage," Lovell said.

A Viceroy spokeswoman could not be reached immediately.

Lovell said Edwards and Viceroy president and CEO Clynton Nauman both have Northern experience.

Both worked at Con. In fact, Nauman is a former Con mine manager, Lovell said.

Viceroy, which owns the Brewery Creek gold mine in the Yukon, is a Vancouver-based, TSE-listed company.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the court-appointed receiver handling Royal Oak assets, had set a July 9 date for prospective buyers to express interest in Giant.

Greg Watson, with PricewaterhouseCoopers, has not returned Yellowknifer calls. There had been speculation Con mine owner Miramar might be interested in Giant. Miramar has done its own tire-kicking. Miramar spokesperson Brian Labadie said Thursday the company has looked at Giant but made no decisions.

As for the $19.4 million loan issued by Trilon Financial, the receiver will use the money to keep various Royal Oak assets operational until September, but most of the money will go to Kemess, Trilon President George Myhal said Thursday.

"We're all waiting to hear who the lucky (Kemess) owner will be."

Before going bust, Royal Oak had piled up about $600 million in debt. Of that, about $124 million is owed to Trilon. Once the new Kemess mine is sold, Trilon is the first creditor in line.