FLASHPOINT for Dec 02, 2007

Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007 | 1:16 a.m.

Newmont Mining Corp. on Friday agreed to sell its royalty assets and other "noncore investments" to Franco-Nevada Corp., Reuters reported. The value of the deal: $1.3 billion. On the same day, Franco-Nevada announced a $1 billion-plus public offering. These numbers are astonishing in the wake of the state's budget problems. I understand that mining money has paralyzed legislators in D.C. and Carson City. It's silly to think the miners, who wrote the state constitution to make it very tough to tax them, would consider contributing more. If they did, the miners, who love Sen. Harry Reid only slightly more than they love Gov. Jim Gibbons, would do a different kind of public offering: one where they'd offer to put up their fair share.

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