Gogama Gold Mines1

"Five miles is enough!" thought Jack Donaldson, Chairman and President of Gogama Gold Mines (GGM) as he jogged on the outdoor track on the roof of the Banque d' Tower. He was enjoying the unusually warm January weather that was experiencing - 16 degrees Celsius, shattering the old record by 3 degrees! Jogging was something that Jack found helped to relax his mind when he had to make those tough strategic business decisions. Normally, a three-mile run would suffice, but today he was about to make one of the biggest decisions of his life.

GGM was formed in 1980 to explore certain mineral claims that were acquired in the Gogama Lake region of Ontario, south-west of . Jack had graduated from University of Toronto in 1972 with a BSc in geology and metallurgy, and obtained his MSc (also in geology) in 1974. He spent nearly six years with Mining, one of Canada's leading industrial mining companies, as a geologist searching for new mineral claims. In early 1978, Jack had a disagreement with his employer regarding the feasibility of developing the Gogama A-47 site that Jack had discovered. The preliminary assay results had indicated a potentially large deposit of gold, silver and other trace minerals. Canada Mining was reluctant to develop the site because it was not readily accessible by land, and further tests would prove expensive. When Jack complained to the Vice-President of Exploration and Development, he was fired for insubordination. He launched a suit for wrongful dismissal, which was settled out-of-court early in 1980. Jack received the rights to the Gogama A-47 site as compensation with an option to acquire the remaining rights to Canada Mining's claim in the Gogama Lake district for $100,000.

Jack approached several friends he knew from his university days about his idea to develop the mine. Through his connections, and those of his friends, he was able to raise $500,000. He had sold 250,000 shares at $2.00 per share to these outsiders and was allowed to sell the mining rights to the company for 500,000 shares. In 1984, the company needed more funds for pre-production expenses. This time, 400,000 shares were sold to the public at $3.00 each to raise $1,000,000, after underwriting commissions of $200,000.

In September 1987, Jack exercised his option to obtain the additional claims from the CanMin Group, the new name of the old Canada Mining Company, for all the properties surrounding the A-47 site that CanMin still owned. He sold these to GGM for 200,000 shares, valued at $5.00 each, the average market price during the month of August, plus $500,000 cash. This transaction was approved by a consulting firm that was appointed by the outside directors, and the firm's banker to determine fair terms for the deal.

On October 5, 1987, Jack announced at a news conference that GGM was going to prepare a new public issue to raise the $5,000,000 needed to build and open the mine.

1 © 1999, βeta Management Consultants and A. T. Marshall. This case was written to simulate and illustrate a management decision-making situation, and is not based on a factual situation. Any similarity to persons or firms is coincidental. GOGAMA GOLD MINES Page 2

The market reacted very favourably to the proposal, rising to $5.75 by the close of trading, October 16. The planned issue was going to be a public offering of 1,000,000 shares, tentatively priced at $5.75 per share, less $0.50 underwriting commission, to net the firm $5,250,000. The extra funds would be used for general corporate requirements.

After the close of the market, Friday, October 16, CanMin announced that it would seek an injunction preventing GGM from developing the mine, and would be launching a law suit to recover all GGM's assets, claiming that Jack Donaldson had withheld information from Canada Mining when the wrongful dismissal settlement was negotiated. On Monday, October 19, 1987 the market experienced its worst day in history, falling 22% in a single day. This, combined with CanMin's legal actions, caused the stock of GGM to fall $3.65 to $2.10. The planned stock issue was scrapped.

In the next two months, Jack felt like he had aged 20 years. He spent more time in court and in lawyers' offices than he did in his office running the company. In addition, Jerry Maxlin, a west coast mining promoter, was rumoured to be buying GGM stock heavily. In December, the rumours were confirmed, when it was announced that he had bought 200,000 shares, and demanded a seat on the Board. This was a prospect that Jack was not pleased about. So far, the company had been run by himself, with all the directors being either his former university classmates, his lawyers, bankers and other business as- sociates.

The CanMin injunction bid was thrown out of the Ontario Supreme Court on December 18. The court ruled that CanMin, and its predecessor company, had been fully aware of the mineral potential of the Gogama site, and the CanMin's actions appeared to be motivated by greed, attempting to '...jump on the bandwagon...' now that it was feasible to open the mine. The judgement also implied that CanMin's actions were partially motivated by vindictiveness because Donaldson had exercised the option to acquire the remaining Gogama properties. GGM stock had been halted on the exchange for the day, pending the decision. On the following Monday, the stock rose from $2.65 to $4.95.

Jack and his directors were ecstatic about the decision. With the lawsuit or injunction, it would have been impossible to go ahead with the plans to develop the mine. Still, they faced the task of raising the money to develop and open the mine. The cost of opening the mine had not changed ($5,000,000) but the distraction of the court battles and the actions of Jerry Maxlin, had drained the company of about $200,000. Overall, it was felt that $5,500,000 would have to be raised.

Jack was concerned that while the threat from the CanMin action had been removed, the stock was still substantially below the level it had been when the expansion plans and stock issue were originally announced. In the month since the court decision, GGM stock had fluctuated between $4.50 and $5.25. Clearly, the firm was going to have to issue more shares to raise the same amount of capital. GOGAMA GOLD MINES Page 3

While he was jogging, Jack had been contemplating several options proposed by Steele, Bumbry, the firm's underwriter:

1. GGM could attempt to do another general public offering, as had been proposed in October. However, the issue price would be lower, likely $4.75 less $0.50 commission to net Gogama $4.25 per share.

The other two ideas proposed by Steele, Bumbry involved the use of rights:

2. GGM could issue rights to buy shares at $4.00 per share. Steele, Bumbry would underwrite the issue at 20 cents per share subscribed and 75 cents for every unsubscribed share.

3. GGM could issue rights to buy new shares at $2.50 per share. The underwriting commission would be 5 cents per subscribed share and 75 cents for every unsubscribed share.

The final proposal was suggested after hearing the Steele, Bumbry proposals by Rick Mancini, one of Jack's friends who sat on the board:

4. GGM could issue rights to buy shares at $1.00 per share, without being underwritten, because the probability of the rights going unexercised was virtually nil.

The Steele, Bumbry people acknowledged that Mancini's proposal was feasible, but they recommended against this idea for '...reasons that are too complex to get into.'

All four proposals had their merits. The public offering would definitely provide for a wider distribution of the stock, unless Maxlin attempted to buy it all. Donaldson was impressed by the idea of not having to pay any underwriting fees in proposal four. However he was concerned with hurting his position with the investment banking community, should he have to raise more money at a later date. He was also concerned about the effect of a rights issue at $1.00 would have on the stock price. He was proud of the fact that he had managed the firm in such a way that the stock had performed well as an investment. He had also purposely not split the stock to keep its price in the 'penny stock' range because he did not like the connotation associated with that moniker.

The five-mile jog had helped to clear his mind. Instead of all the proposals being confusing, he was now able to see the good and bad aspects of each proposal more clearly. GOGAMA GOLD MINES Page 4

APPENDIX

GOGAMA GOLD MINES STOCK PRICE DATA September 1986 - January 1988

Closing Monthly Month Year Price Return

September 1986 4.250 October 1986 4.750 11.76% November 1986 5.000 5.26% December 1986 4.650 -7.00%

January 1987 4.250 -8.60% February 1987 4.625 8.82% March 1987 4.950 7.03% April 1987 4.650 -6.06% May 1987 4.850 4.30% June 1987 4.950 2.06% July 1987 4.875 -1.52% August 19875.1255.13% September 19875.375 4.88% October 1987 2.350 -56.28% November 1987 2.550 8.51% December 1987 4.950 94.12%

Average 0.048279 Standard Deviation: All Months 0.286082 Excl Oct/87, Dec/87 0.062552