Big buy for New Gold

Article Excerpt

NEW GOLD $10.02 (Toronto symbol NGD; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (888-315- 9715; www.newgold.com; Shares outstanding: 399.1 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; No dividends paid) has agreed to buy Richfield Ventures (symbol RVC on Toronto) for $550 million in New Gold shares. New Gold holds cash of $491 million, or $1.25 a share, so it could use some of those funds for the purchase. However, its shares are trading near their all-time highs, so the company decided to pay with stock instead. Richfield owns the Blackwater gold project in central British Columbia, about 450 kilometres north of New Gold’s New Afton project. New Afton is forecast to begin production in mid-2012. The Blackwater project holds as much as 3.8 million ounces of gold. The project is accessible by road, and is near a BC Hydro power line. After it brings New Afton into production, New Gold aims to use the same minebuilding personnel to construct a mine at Blackwater. New Gold is…