One more point, Pierre Lassonde and Seymour Schulich two titans in gold oil and royalities investment, Both has made huge returns for investors when Newmont mining brought Franco Nevada

Seymour Schulich Reports Ownership in New Gold Inc.

TORONTO, April 3 /CNW/ - Seymour Schulich, through his RRSP, c/o
20 Eglinton Avenue West, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario M4R 1K8, announced today
that he has purchased 4,000,000 common shares of New Gold Inc. (TSX: NGD) (the
"Company") through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
As a result of this purchase, Mr. Schulich currently owns or exercises
control and direction over 4,000,000 common shares of the Company.
Mr. Schulich's current shareholdings represent approximately 14% of the
current issued and outstanding common shares of the Company. Mr. Schulich has
further advised the Company that he has acquired the 4,000,000 common shares
for investment purposes. Mr. Schulich has indicated that he will review his
holdings from time to time and that he may increase or decrease his position
as future circumstances may dictate.




For further information: Seymour Schulich, (416) 480-6483


....

Lisa Wright
business reporter

Canadian golden boys Pierre Lassonde, Ian Telfer and Frank Giustra plan to turn a trio of small miners into a $1.6 billion mid-tier producer in a proposed merger that aims to capitalize on super hot times in the bullion business.

Vancouver's Peak Gold Ltd., along with Metallica Resources Inc. and New Gold Inc. of Toronto, announced yesterday that they have struck an all-stock deal to form the combined New Gold Inc. to boost production with a solid pipeline of projects coming on stream in the current cycle.

"The institutions are looking at intermediates with this kind of market cap. It gives them the liquidity they need to get involved," Peak's chief executive Bob Gallagher, who will become CEO of the new Vancouver-based miner, said in an interview.

Gold miners worth more than $1.5 billion are in "the sweet spot" where large institutions get on board, added Lassonde, industry veteran and chair of Franco-Nevada Corp., who will own a 5 per cent stake in the new company.

"Only when you put the three companies together do you get it, and you get it all in spades," he told analysts on a conference call.

Big things have been expected of Peak Gold since it was formed last spring by Telfer, chair of Goldcorp Inc. and Uranium One Inc., and billionaire mining mogul Giustra, who has been on the radar lately for his philanthropic work and friendship with former U.S. president Bill Clinton.

Giustra and Clinton held a splashy fundraiser in Toronto a few weeks ago that featured Elton John, Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Robin Williams. It raised millions from Bay Street for international relief efforts in communities affected by mining.

Both Telfer and Giustra are on Peak's board. While the three-way merger marks the exit of Giustra – whom Gallagher described as "integral in deciding how to do this deal" – Telfer and Lassonde will sit on the board of the new company.

Gallagher explained it was Lassonde, a major Metallica shareholder, who recently approached them with the three-way merger plan, adding: "Obviously he's a great ideas guy."

The deal is the latest in an ongoing industry consolidation that has run rampant in recent years to take advantage of rising prices amid a troubling lack of new ore discoveries.

Shareholders of Metallica would receive 0.9 common shares of New Gold for each common share, while shareholders of Peak Gold would receive 0.1 common share of New Gold for each share.

"They certainly are inserting themselves in that intermediate kind of ground," said analyst Barry Allan of Research Capital Corp., noting most other mid-tier players have been scooped up by the seniors in this cycle.

Meanwhile, the price of gold, which has corrected about 8 per cent in recent weeks after hitting $1,000 (U.S.) an ounce, fell again yesterday. It closed at $916.20, off $14.40, in New York.

New Gold is expected to produce 297,000 ounces of gold this year and 335,000 ounces in 2009 from operations in Australia, Brazil and Mexico.

And with more than $500 million in cash on the books, the merged company will be well positioned to develop the Afton mine in B.C. and the El Morro mine in Chile. It may also expand Peak's Amapari mine in Brazil while "aggressively" seeking acquisitions to complement its stable of projects, the companies said.

"What excites me is what the (new) company could do going forward," Telfer said.

The combination will produce metal at an average of $340 an ounce after offsetting revenue from the sale of silver and copper. Operating cash costs will drop below $300 an ounce next year, the company said in a presentation on its website.

New Gold will have reserves of 3.2 million ounces of gold, 65.3 million ounces of silver and 986 million pounds of copper.