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From the last 10Q 2007
Outstanding as of September 12, 2007: 55,755,477 shares
MINERAL PROPERTIES
At June 30, 2007, the Company has an interest in one production stage mineral property, no development stage properties, and six exploration stage properties. The following describes each of these mineral properties.
Andacollo Mine, Chile
During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, Trend entered into negotiations to purchase 100% of the issued shares of capital stock in DMC Cayman, Inc., a Cayman Islands company (“DMC Cayman”). DMC Cayman indirectly owned 100% of the issued shares of capital stock of Compania Minera Dayton S.A., a Chilean corporation (“CMD”), that owns and operates the Andacollo gold mine in Chile. On September 20, 2005, Trend received funding for the acquisition through a separate group of investors, based on a commitment from Trend to transfer to the investor group 70% of the shares of DMC Cayman.
The Company paid an initial $900,000 in cash for the acquisition. The Company also paid out additional related expenses for which it was to be repaid 70% by the other investors. Before the end of the year, the investor group bought Trend’s 30% stake in exchange for cash of $1,122,975, a 1% net smelter returns royalty, and a 30% back-in right exercisable through April 1, 2006. As a result of this transaction, the Company recognized a gain of $69,804 at September 30, 2005, and it retained a 1% net smelter returns royalty. The Company received the cash portion of the purchase price during the quarter ended December 31, 2005. The Company did not exercise the 30% back-in right.
The final operating permits for the mine were obtained on December 27, 2005, and it became fully operational during the third quarter of fiscal 2006. Trend is contractually entitled to receive 1% of gold revenues from the mine in monthly installments, subject to a 35% Chilean withholding tax.
However, the Company was notified by the owners of the Andacollo Gold Mine Project that they challenged the rights of the Company to continue to receive royalties. The owners ceased paying the royalties after December 31, 2006 and informed the Company that they do not intend to pay further royalties. The Company is vigorously contesting the position taken by the owners and is considering all its options in defending its contractual rights to receive royalties. The Company has not received any royalties in 2007, and pending resolution of the dispute, has not accrued a receivable for any such royalties.
Diabase Peninsula, Cree Lake Area, Saskatchewan, Canada
On September 15, 2004, the Company diversified into uranium exploration with the staking of a mining claim comprising approximately 940 hectares (approximately 4 square miles) at Cree Lake in the Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan.
In October 2004, the Company signed an option to purchase an additional mining claim at Cree Lake which covers 1681 hectares (approximately 6.5 square miles) and is located immediately adjacent to, and southwest of, the first Cree Lake claim. This option agreement is referred to herein as the Diabase Peninsula Lease.
Terms of the Diabase Peninsula Lease require Trend to maintain the claim group in good standing by performing a minimum of approximately CDN $20,172 worth of field work per year. In addition, payments to the lessor of CDN $15,000, $20,000, and $30,000, respectively, were made in each of the first three years. Trend has an option to purchase the claims for CDN $11 million any time through September 2012, at which time the property remains subject to a 3% gross royalty on any and all minerals produced.
Subsequent to the acquisition of the Diabase Peninsula Lease, Trend staked one more claim on the southwestern edge of the lease for an additional 1603 hectares (6.2 square miles), such that the aggregate area of Trend’s uranium claims in the Athabasca Basin totals 4224 hectares (16.7 square miles).
In December 2004, Trend announced that it and Nuinsco Resources Limited (“Nuinsco”) signed a Letter of Intent to form a 50-50 joint venture to own, operate and explore the three Cree Lake/Diabase Peninsula claims. Pursuant to the Letter of Intent Nuinsco conducted, at its expense, an exploration program consisting of geophysical surveys and geochemical sampling followed by drilling. A definitive joint venture agreement was executed on September 29, 2005. Under the terms of the joint venture agreement, Nuinsco must maintain all three claims in good standing, including the performance of the minimum annual filed work required by the Diabase Peninsula Lease, and will earn a 50% interest in the claims upon spending CDN $1 million prior to December of 2007. The spending requirement was satisfied in May of 2006, and accordingly, Trend and Nuinsco became 50-50 owners of the claims at that time. Since then, Trend has declined to fund its 50% share of continuing exploration expenditures and as a result, the Company’s ownership had been diluted to approximately 30% as of September 30, 2006. In the future, if Nuinsco takes the project into the development stage, Trend will have a one time opportunity to regain its 50% interest by repaying the expenditures it otherwise would have made plus paying a 40% penalty.
Additionally, to offset Trend’s payments made to the lessor, and per terms of the agreement with Nuinsco, during the quarter ended June 30, 2006, Nuinsco granted to the Company 212,500 freely trading shares of Nuinsco common stock.
Stillwater Complex, Montana
Effective January 1, 2005, Trend entered into an agreement with Aurora Metals Limited (“Aurora”) that provides that Trend will explore for platinum group and base metals on portions of Aurora claims known as the “Stillwater Intrusive Complex” in Montana. Trend will be the operator during the exploration stage and will earn 50% in the project by fulfilling work commitments to spend $2 million on qualified exploration expenditures over the ensuing 5 years. Additionally, Trend issued 50,000 shares of its common stock to Aurora on commencement of the agreement. Further, Trend issued 20,000 shares and paid $20,000 on the first anniversary of the agreement, issued 142,857 shares on the second anniversary of the agreement, and must pay $20,000 in cash or stock each year thereafter until it has spent the agreed upon sum of $2 million, at which time a 50-50 joint venture will be formed.
The cumulative work commitment required by the agreement is $500,000 during the first two year period ending December 31, 2006. Thereafter, work commitments total $500,000 per year for three additional years. Through December 31, 2006, the Company had spent approximately $400,472 on qualified exploration expenditures. The Company was unable to complete its work commitment for 2006 due to forest fires which closed the National Forest. The Company notified Aurora of a Force Majeure situation and will need to spend, subject to final accounting, approximately $630,000 during 2007 to maintain the agreement in force.
Lake Owen Claims, Wyoming
In September 1999, the Company entered into an agreement with General Minerals Corporation (“GMC”) to acquire a platinum group metals and magnetite property located in Albany County, Wyoming. Pursuant to the agreement, the Company received 104 unpatented mining claims, the Lake Owen claims, in exchange for 715,996 shares of common stock, $40,000 in cash and $750,000 in exploration expenditure commitments to be incurred over a three-year option period. In May 2000, the Company issued an additional 129,938 shares of common stock under this agreement.
In June 2000, the Company and GMC entered into an amendment to the agreement under which (i) the Company issued 416,961 shares of common stock to GMC upon GMC’s exercise of preemptive rights, (ii) the Company performed an additional $15,000 of geophysical work prior to December 31, 2000 (subsequently modified), (iii) the Company issued 200,000 additional shares and warrants exercisable until June 2002 to purchase 200,000 shares at $0.70 per share, and (iv) GMC agreed to terminate its anti-dilution and preemptive rights as provided in the original agreement. The 200,000 warrants expired.
In March 2002, the Company issued 1,100,000 shares, valued at $770,000 in full satisfaction of cash commitments relating to exploration activities. The issuance of these shares resulted in the full ownership of the Lake Owen claims by Trend Mining Company.
In 1999-2000, the Company staked additional claims at Lake Owen and an adjoining area, Albany West, and now holds 601 unpatented mining claims at the Lake Owen area.
In August, 2005, the Company commenced exploration of this property with ground magnetic surveys. Effective June 1, 2006, the Company leased the 601 claims to RMP Resources Corp., a private company. The lease requires RMP to pay Trend advance royalties of $35,000 annually. The lease also requires RMP to incur exploration expenditures of $200,000 through June 1, 2007, $350,000 during the following year, and $500,000 annually thereafter. Upon the cumulative expenditure of $5 million, RMP will acquire the property and will owe a 3% net smelter returns royalty to Trend.
Peter Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada
The Company holds mining claims in the Peter Lake Domain of northern Saskatchewan. The Peter Lake Domain is recognized to host known occurrences of copper-nickel and platinum-palladium mineralization.
In August 2000, the Company staked five claims. In 2002, the Company allowed these claims to lapse and subsequently restaked them plus one additional claim. In October of 2004 the Company expanded the Peter Lake Project by acquiring 3 claims near Ant Lake, Swan Lake, and Seahorse Lake. Five of the six 2002 claims lapsed, but in 2005 the Company staked four new claims. In March of 2006, the Company allowed the remaining 2002 claim to lapse, such that the Company held seven claims for a total of 14,781 hectares (57 square miles).
In August 2004, the Company began exploration of this property. During the summer of 2005, the Company executed a broad reconnaissance program to search for extractable concentrations of minerals.
The Company has allowed four of its seven claims on this project to lapse as of August, 2007. The Company will be required to spend approximately CDN$58,000 prior to January, 2008 to retain the remaining three claims. The Company is seeking a joint venture partner due to the high expense of operating in the high Canadian latitudes. If the Company is unable to find a suitable joint venture partner it will likely allow these remaining claims to lapse.
Pyramid Claims, Nevada
The Company retains a 1.5% net smelter returns royalty interest in the Pyramid project, which consists of five unpatented lode mining claims within the Walker Indian Reservation near Fallon, Nevada. The claims are owned by Consolidated Goldfields Corporation (OTC: CDGF) which has offices in Reno, Nevada and has recently conducted underground and surface sampling at the project. The results of this sampling have been issued as press releases by CDGF and appear favorable. Interested parties are encouraged to review these results as posted on the internet.
Rae-Wallace Claims
The Company retains a 2.5% net smelter returns royalty on four patented mining claims located north of Anchorage, Alaska, that are owned by the Rae-Wallace Company, a former subsidiary. Trend does not anticipate any activity being conducted on these claims in the foreseeable future.
