Gates Has 10 Percent Stake In Silver Mining Company

Updated 5:32 PM ET September 29, 1999

MSFT 89 1/2 -2 5/8 (-2.85%) SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp . Chairman Bill Gates has taken a 10.3 percent stake in mining company Pan American Silver Corp., following his friend Warren Buffett into the precious metal market.

Gates' investment vehicle Cascade Investment LLC began building its position aggressively in February of this year and currently has a stake of 3.15 million shares in the Vancouver, B.C.-based company, according to a document filed this week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pan American Silver, a pure play silver miner with 760 million ounces of reserves, was up 2/16 at 6-11/16 in Nasdaq trading, giving Gates' stake a value of about $21 million. Gates paid about $5.25 a share on average for a total investment of about $16.5 million, according to a Pan American official.

The disclosure of the Gates investment represented the latest vote of confidence in silver, which has rallied in recent days although prices were down Wednesday.

Last year Buffett made a stir last year by announcing he had bought 130 million ounces of the metal, or 20 percent of the world's annual supply. Recently he has declined to comment on his silver position.

In addition to his $72 billion in Microsoft stock, Gates, the world's richest individual, also has an estimated $5 billion in other assets following several years of diversification.

About 70 percent of that external portfolio is in short-term government and corporate bonds, with about 10 percent in publicly traded stocks like Pan American, according to Fortune magazine.

Gates also owns substantial stakes in Chaparral Resources Inc. ; which is developing oil and gas resources in Kazakhstan, Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. ; and biotech company ICOS Corp., among others, according to public records.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 29, 1999

Answers

Perfect, Gates can give all that money he makes in silver to his non- white college fund. Because if he doesnt"t, the goverment might bring him back for antitrust lawbreaking..

-- (FRED@AOL..COM), September 29, 1999.

Was gonna buy DROOY tomorrow, but now, I'm thinkin'......

Maybe, somebody could help me here? How about it window washer? Or others?

-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 29, 1999.

Come on, now, no foolin'. Somebody help me out here. I've got an appointment with the broker tomorrow morn, 30 min before stock mkt. opens to buy DROOY mine stock. Should I buy Pan American instead/also? Talkin' about $10K. Already got eagles BTW, both white and yellow.

-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 29, 1999.