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iii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii <br />~, , <br />Lack of water may doo <br />San Luis gold-mining project <br />SAN LUIS (AP) -The price of <br />gold, community distension and <br />water problems could put Battle <br />Mountain Gold Co.'s San Luis Proj- <br />ect on hold, perhaps torever, ac- <br />cording to genera! superintendent <br />Gary Dodson. <br />He said the price of gold has <br />dropped from about E950 an ounce <br />to less than 5400 an ounce, which <br />will make the project less profit- <br />able than Battle Mountain had <br />hoped. <br />The company had said earlier <br />that construction would begin this <br />month or next, but Dodson now <br />says it will not start until after the <br />company has secured a supply of <br />water. <br />Dodson said the company had <br />been led to believe that sharehold- <br />ers in the Sanchez Ditch and Ref- <br />ervoir Co. might be interested in <br />supplying Battle Mountain with <br />water for ifs proposed heap-leach <br />mining project at Rlto Seco, about <br />three miles northeast of San Luis. <br />Dodson said Battle Mountain ot- <br />fered Sanchez Ditch and Reservoir <br />jl per share per year just to <br />change the bylaws to allow share- <br />holders to sell water for non-agri- <br />cultural purposes. <br />Thal would be about 521,802 a <br />year, or about one-fourth of the <br />ditch company's budget, Dodson <br />said. <br />"We thought it was good for the <br />company. As an outsider, I knew it <br />was;' Dodson said. <br />But al last week's annual meet- <br />ing of Sanchez Ditch and Reservoir <br />shareholders, they voted against <br />the change. <br />Ditch company board chairman <br />Fred Holmes of Mesita said there <br />were "many concerns, complaints" <br />about the plan. "They telt it was <br />not in the best interest" of the <br />ditch company, he said. <br />i~g, <br />