TORONTO, CANADA
March 4, 2009
The three winners were announced yesterday in the Meet the Mining Mogul contest, a first of its kind, put on by the Women in Mining (WiM) networks in Toronto and Vancouver. Each has won a one-hour private meeting with one of the three mining financiers who agreed to be the “prizes” in the contest, which is part of a fund-raising effort by the Women in Mining for The Townships Project.
A one-hour meeting with Frank Giustra of Fiore Financial will be the prize claimed by Guy Saucier. U.S. Gold’s Rob McEwen will meet with Karen Sutherland for an hour’s chat. And Eric Sprott of Sprott Asset Management will meet with Virginia Heffernan.
The Meet the Mining Mogul contest was part of an ambitious fund-raising effort by the Canadian WiM branches to support microloans for impoverished people in the township areas of South Africa. Their goal is to raise $250,000 this winter for the Toronto-based registered charity. Every donation in the campaign up to the time of yesterday’s draw was an entry in the contest. The amount of money raised for the charity at press time was $75,035, but that amount was expected to rise with the publicity that has been generated for the campaign during the Prospectors and Developers of Canada annual convention in Toronto this week, with an attendance of 18,000.
The CEO and founder of The Townships Project, Martha Deacon, was on hand to speak with delegates at the convention. As well, the executive director of Tetla Financial Solutions, Yvonne Radinku, was there to tell delegates how her microfinancing institution has been supported since 2007 by The Townships Project. Tetla is now 75% of the way toward becoming self-sufficient. It has made 5,000 loans to 3,000 clients, mainly women, to start up or expand businesses in the last two years, with a 94% repayment rate.
The contest draw took place during the Women in Mining International Reception on March 3rd at the convention, a gathering of an estimated 300 women and men including a large number of university students. The reception was sponsored by Golder Associates, HudBay Minerals, McMillan LLP and Smith Nixon LLP.
Major contributors to The Townships Project campaign include Homeland Energy, Agnico-Eagle Mines and its employees, FNX Mining, Mountain Province Mining, Barrick Gold, Khan Resources and Watts, Griffis & McOuat. Fund-raising for The Townships Project will continue into the spring. Donations can be made at www.women-in-mining.com.
About Women in Mining
Women in Mining (WiM) networks (www.women-in-mining.com) in Toronto and Vancouver are working together to raise $250,000 from Canada’s mining industry by spring 2009 to benefit impoverished people in South Africa. WiM’s latest corporate social responsibility initiative builds on its successful fundraising campaigns for breast cancer research, raising over $300,000 in 2007 and 2008 primarily from private donations and companies in the mining industry, particularly Teck Cominco and De Beers Canada.
The 600 members of WiM’s Canadian branches are seeking donations to The Townships Project, a registered Canadian charity that supports microfinance institutions (MFIs) in township areas in South Africa. These MFIs help to break the cycle of poverty by making modest loans to entrepreneurs (primarily women) so they can operate self-sustaining small businesses. Under the leadership of Toronto-based CEO Martha Deacon, The Townships Project has been active since May 1999, ensuring that each $50 donated changes a life for the better forever. Examples of small businesses that have succeeded because of The Townships Project can be found at www.thetownshipsproject.org.
For more information about Women in Mining and to donate to The Townships Project go to www.women-in-mining.com or contact the undersigned.
Lynda Bloom
President & CEO, Halo Resources
416-917-7480
lbloom@halores.com
Cathy Hume
CEO, CHF Investor Relations
416-868-1079, ext. 231
cathy@chfir.com
Beth Kirkwood
Mountain Province Diamonds
416-461-6009
info@women-in-mining.com