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Wheaton River To Buy 25% Stake In Argentina Project

Tuesday March 25, 2:29 pm ET

VANCOUVER -(Dow Jones)- Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. , along with an unidentified arm's-length third party, plan to acquire a 25% interest in the Bajo de la Alumbrera gold-copper mine in Argentina from BHP Billiton Ltd. for $180 million.

In a press release, Wheaton River said it and the third party will each acquire a 12.5% interest in the Alumbrera mine.

Wheaton River said it will finance its 12.5% stake with debt and doesn't anticipate issuing additional equity. It expects the transaction to close in June.

BHP has agreed to defer payment of up to $50 million of the purchase price until May 30, 2005. The deferred portion will bear interest at LIBOR plus 2% a year.

As reported, on March 18 Wheaton River acquired a 25% interest in the Alumbrera mine from Rio Tinto PLC (RTP).

Following completion of the acquisition of an additional 12.5% interest in the Alumbrera mine, Wheaton River will have 2003 annualized production of 538,000 gold equivalent ounces with an estimated cash cost per gold equivalent ounce of $99, including by-product copper credits.

Closing is subject to board, regulatory and other approvals.

Wheaton River is a mining company.

Company Web Site: http://www.wheatonriver.com

-Josephine Li, Dow Jones NewsWires; 416-306-2100

http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/030325/1429001148_1.html

Wht was up almost 9% today.
Dan