Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 10/00) - On Wednesday two representatives from Morneau Sobeco met twice with miners.

Once Miramar acquired the Giant mine, Deloitte and Touche, Inc. was appointed administrator of the hourly and salaried pension plans.

Bethune Whiston, a principal with Morneau Sobeco, a subsidiary of Deloitte and Touch said she and her colleague came at the prompting of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

"We had intended to come up at some stage, anyway," Whiston said.

"We're here to assure them that we're working on their behalf, to explain what our position is compared to the rest of the people in the picture, and to get to know some of them and what their concerns are."

Whiston said the exact amount the hourly pension plan is underfunded is not yet known.

"The figures have to be determined by an actuary before the exact numbers can be calculated. There's the asset side and the liability side. And the liabilities have to be determined," Whiston said.

"We would anticipate that it would not take years, it would take months."

And though the salaried pension plan has a surplus, Whiston said this surplus cannot simply be transferred to the hourly fund.

"It has to be determined who owns the surplus in the other plan. It's possible that perhaps the company owned the surplus," Whiston said.

"It's possible that it can't be determined who owned the surplus and there will have to be an agreement reached between the members and the creditors of the company. And it's possible that the members potentially own the surplus."

Whiston pointed out if it was determined the company owned the surplus (which is an unsecured creditor), then the surplus might end up going to secured creditors.