Pershing Gold converts debt to equity

Pershing Gold Corp. said last week it converted more than $9 million in debt it incurred to buy a Nevada mining property into equity.

Among the debt holders who converted into equity were Frost Gamma Investments, Platinum Long Term Growth LLC, and Lakewood Group LLC, Pershing said in a press release.

The debt holders provided financing for the company's purchase of the Relief Canyon Mine in Pershing County last year.

Separately, Pershing Gold said it will pay $6 million to acquire the interest of Victoria Gold Corp. in the area around the Relief Canyon Mine.

The property includes claims and leases that Victoria is leasing or subleasing from a unit of Newmont Mining corp. Also included are unpatented claims held by a subsidiary of Victoria Gold. The package totals about 13,400 acres.

The Relief Canyon area is south of Interstate 80 and east of Lovelock.

The deal, which is expected to close this week, calls for Pershing to pay $2 million in cash along with a package of its common shares and warrants to buy its shares during the next two years.

Stephen D. Alfers, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Pershing Gold, said the transaction will consolidate the Relief Canyon mining district under one ownership.

Fractured ownership stalled earlier plans to develop the Relief Canyon deposits, Alfers said.

Pershing is headquartered at the Denver suburb of Lakewood, Colo.