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The Company Corporate Overview
Wits Basin Precious Minerals Inc. (OTC BB: WITM) is a minerals exploration and development company that holds an impressive property portfolio.
Wits Basin owns the Bates-Hunter Gold Mine in Central City, Colorado. Discovery of gold at the Bates-Hunter Mine in 1859 kicked off the Colorado gold rush and established Denver as a major American city. All mines in the area went dormant in 1936. This mining district has historically produced more than 4 million ounces of gold. Twenty-five percent (25%) of all the gold mined came from the area immediately surrounding the Bates-Hunter mine. Wits Basin's property controls the 15 principal veins underlying the mine. The veins historically produced about 750,000 ounces mined to an average depth of 600 feet. When the mine was closed, the mineshaft reached 800 feet. Drilling in the 1990's confirmed grades of 0.48 ounces over 10-foot widths with veins ranging from 2 to 20 feet wide. Workings down to the 800-foot level confirm that the gold veins continue to depth. Similarly mineralized properties in the region have been mined to 2,250 feet in depth.
Wits Basin currently owns 35% of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of Kwagga Gold, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AfriOre International. The Company recently executed an agreement with AfriOre whereby Wits Basin may acquire the remaining 65% equity interest of Kwagga. Kwagga holds exploration rights to the FSC Project located in South Africa which is comprised of several hundred thousand acres that are adjacent to the main Witwatersrand Basin, the most prolific gold producing region in the world. The Basin’s seven gold fields have produced more than 1.5 billion ounces, or 35% of the world's gold since the late 1800s and is still believed to contain more than 1 billion ounces. Kwagga has accumulated more than $14 million worth of unique and comprehensive data that appears to support the theory that the FSC Project area could contain a southern extension of the main Witwatersrand Basin’s gold producing mineralogy. The possibility exists for the FSC Project to host 100 million ounces of gold with a value in the billions.
Located in an area of southern Mexico known for mineral deposits of a variety of geologic types, the silver-lead-zinc vein, manto, and breccia deposits have been mined almost continuously on the Vianey property since 1976. Past production from six underground levels on two principal veins indicates a broad distribution of silver-lead-zinc ore in steeply dipping structures over an area of 300 metres in length and 150 metres in depth. Underground drilling programs conducted in 1996 from the deepest level of the mine (75 metre level) totaled 2425 metres of core drilling. Numerous holes intersected several potential ore grade mineralized zones over potentially mineable widths at depths of up to 100 metres below the deepest mine workings. Wits currently owns 50% interest in certain Vianey mining claims from Journey Resources Corp. (TSX-V:JNY).
China Global Mining Resources (CGMR), Wits Basin’s 50/50 joint venture with London Mining Plc, controls over 69 million tonnes of magnetite iron ore resources in a single deposit that can be processed with existing facilities at the Company’s Maanshan Xiaonanshan Mining Co., Ltd. and the Nanjing Sudan Mining Co., Ltd., an iron ore mine and concentrator plant located in the Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces of the People’s Republic of China. CGMR has also been granted the right to acquire a further iron ore mining company, Maanshan Zhaoyuan Mining Co Ltd., which is owned by the sellers of Xiaonanshan and Sudan; this resource is expected to support expanded operations with 22 million tonnes of additional resources. It is estimated that the total iron ore available for extraction from these two mines is approximately 95 million tons.
Wits Basin's exceptionally strong management team includes professionals with over 150 combined years of business, mining and technical experience. CEO Stephen King is also CEO of SDK Investments, a financial advisory firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. He has extensive corporate finance and real estate experience. President and Director Clyde Smith, Ph.D. is a registered Professional Engineer. He has founded or co-founded five exploration companies and is responsible for the discovery of four deposits. CFO Mark Dacko previously served as controller and secretary of several publicly traded companies, including Active IQ and Popmail.com.
Director Norman Lowenthal is a South African businessman and vice chairman of the Taylor Companies, a Washington, D.C.-based private bank. He is past-chairman of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and is currently a member of the exchange's Securities Regulation Panel. Director Dr. Joe Mancuso, the founder and CEO of CEO Clubs, Inc., is an accomplished author and speaker focusing on business-related topics. He launched CEO Clubs in 1978 and has founded seven other businesses. Director Don Stoica founded and is president of SSR Engineering, Inc., a privately-held corporation based in Anaheim, CA that develops high performance radar systems for use in security, navigation, defense and related applications.
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