SEPT. 6/06: Unless you've been paying very close attention to the corporate consolidations within the Gold and Precious Metals sector, you might be unaware of just how active the pace of consolidation in the industry has become lately... in comparison, no other sector currently even seems to come close to the pace of M&A activity currently being seen in the Precious Metals sector.

As I've mentioned previously, Larger Gold companies must continually grow their Gold reserves in order to keep attracting new investment capital... and it is currently far less risky and less expensive (by a very wide margin) for a Major Gold Company to simply buy-out or consolidate a Junior Mining Company inorder to grow its Gold reserves than it is to risk many millions of Dollars, huge amounts of risk & uncertainty, and years of time, trying to start a new mine from scratch.

Buying out a Junior Mining Company is by far the SAFEST, CHEAPEST, & QUICKEST way for a Major Gold Company to grow it's reserves and revenues... in fact, the vast majority of mining exploration projects (over 90%) turn-out to be unfeasible, never advancing past the exploration phase into the development phase.

Below I've listed some examples of consolidation and associated deal making... you'll notice the pace of consolidation in 2005 is greater than that of 2004, and the pace of consolidation in 2006 is already greater than that of 2005 even though there are 4 months still remaining in the year.

• June 4, 2004:
  Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX-K; NYSE-KGC) (“Kinross”) announced that it has acquired 205,000 common shares of Cumberland Resources Ltd.
   

• July 01, 2004:
  AngloGold Ashanti Limited ("AngloGold Ashanti") is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire a 29.9% stake in Trans-Siberian Gold PLC.
   

• July 14, 2004:
  Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX-K; NYSE-KGC) (“Kinross”) announced that it has acquired 1,195,900 common shares of Anatolia Minerals Development Ltd.
   

• Oct. 11, 2004:
  AngloGold Ashanti will subscribe for 31 million Red 5 shares at 17.7 cents per share to acquire a 12.3% stake in the expanded issued capital of Red 5.
   

• Dec. 2, 2004:
  Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX) (TSX:ABX) announced today that it has agreed to invest in Celtic Resources Holdings PLC.
   

• Dec. 6, 2004:
  Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G; NYSE: GG) and Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. (TSX: WRM; AMEX: WHT) announce that they have reached an agreement in principle to combine.
   

• March 22, 2005:
  Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: G; NYSE: GG), and Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. (TSX: WRM; AMEX: WHT) (together “Goldcorp”), are pleased to announce the acquisition by their Mexican operating arm, Luismin, of the 2.4 million ounce Bermejal Gold Deposit in Mexico.
   

• May 18, 2005:
  Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX) announced today that it has closed the first tranche of a private placement with Diamondex Resources Ltd.
   

• June 23, 2005:
  ROMARCO MINERALS INC. (“TSXV: R”), WESTERN GOLDFIELDS, INC. (“OTCBB: WGDF”), and U.S. GOLD CORPORATION (“OTCBB: USGL”) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a binding agreement to combine the companies and merge.
   

• Aug. 31, 2005:
  Silver Standard Resources Inc. (TSX:SSO) (NASDAQ:SSRI) reports the acquisition of 3,150,000 common shares of Esperanza Silver Corporation.
   

• Sept. 14, 2005:
  Northgate Minerals Corporation (TSX: NGX, AMEX: NXG) and Young-Davidson Mines, Limited (TSXV: ODM) are pleased to announce that they have signed a merger agreement.
   

• Oct 31, 2005:
  Barrick Gold Corporation announced today that it will make an offer to acquire all the outstanding shares of Placer Dome Inc.
   

• Oct. 31, 2005:
  Goldcorp Inc. (“Goldcorp”, TSX: G; NYSE: GG) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Barrick Gold Corporation to acquire certain mining assets and interests of Placer Dome Inc.
   

• Nov. 28, 2005:
  Goldcorp Inc. (GG:NYSE; G:TSX) is pleased to announce that it has signed a letter of intent with Wolfden Resources Inc. ("Wolfden") (TSX:WLF) to acquire 6 million shares of Wolfden.
   

• Dec. 1, 2005:
  Silver Standard Resources Inc. reports the acquisition of 960,000 common shares of Minco Silver Corporation.
   

• Dec. 4, 2005:
  Yamana Gold Inc. ("Yamana") (TSX:YRI; AMEX:AUY) and RNC Gold Inc. ("RNC") (TSX: RNC) today announced transactions which provide for Yamana to acquire RNC.
   

• Dec. 5, 2005:
  Goldcorp Inc. (“Goldcorp”) (GG:NYSE; G:TSX) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Virginia Gold Mines Inc. (“Virginia”) (VIA:TSX) to acquire Virginia’s Éléonore gold project pursuant to a plan of arrangement involving Virginia.
   

• Feb. 13, 2006:
  Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Newcrest Mining Limited's 22.22% interest in the Boddington Project in Western Australia.
   

• Feb. 14, 2006:
  Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX) (TSX:ABX) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Antofagasta PLC ("Antofagasta") to acquire 50% of Tethyan Copper Company's ("Tethyan") Reko Diq project and associated mineral interests in Pakistan.
   

• Feb. 22, 2006:
  Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX: YRI; AMEX: AUY; LSE (AIM): YAU) announces the acquisition of Desert Sun Mining.
   

• Feb. 24, 2006:
  Glamis Gold Ltd. (“Glamis”) (NYSE, TSX: GLG) today announced an agreement to acquire, through an agreed plan of arrangement, all outstanding shares of Western Silver Corp.
   

• Feb. 27, 2006:
  AngloGold Ashanti Limited announced today an agreement to acquire an effective 8.7% stake in Dynasty Gold Corporation.
   

• March 5, 2006:
  U.S. Gold Corporation ( OTCBB : USGL ) today announced that it intends to acquire, in stock transactions, all of the outstanding common shares of 4 companies; White Knight Resources, Nevada Pacific Gold, Coral Gold & Tone Resources.
   

• April 12, 2006:
  Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS: NASDAQ; PAA: TSX) announces that it has closed its previously announced acquisition of the Manantial Espejo silver project in Argentina.
   

• April 13, 2006:
  Queenstake Resources Ltd. has closed its equity private placement with Newmont Canada Limited, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) whereby Newmont purchased 28.51 million Queenstake.
   

• June 1, 2006:
  Northgate Minerals Corporation ( TSX: NGX, AMEX: NXG) today announced that it has filed its formal Offer to purchase all of the common shares of Aurizon Mines Ltd.
   

• July 24, 2006:
  Barrick Announces Cash Offer for NovaGold Assets will consolidate 100% of Donlin Creek Project and add Galore Creek to Barrick’s project pipeline.
   

• Aug. 8, 2006:
  Silver Standard Resources Inc. reports the acquisition of 1,000,000 common shares of Silvermex Resources Ltd.
   

• Aug. 9, 2006:
  Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX: K, NYSE: KGC) (“Kinross”) wishes to advise that they have entered into an agreement whereby X-Cal Resources Ltd.
   

• Aug. 16, 2006:
  Yamana Gold Inc. (Yamana) (TSX: YRI)(AMEX: AUY) and Viceroy Exploration Ltd. today announced that Yamana has agreed to make a take-over bid to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Viceroy.
   

• Aug. 31, 2006:
  Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: G, NYSE: GG) and Glamis Gold Ltd. (TSX: GLG, NYSE: GLG) announced today that they have agreed to combine.
   

• Sept. 6, 2006:
  Silver Wheaton Corp. (TSX, NYSE:SLW) (“Silver Wheaton”), has acquired 2,314,600 additional shares in Bear Creek Mining Corp.