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Two days ago, a mining company named Southridge Enterprises Inc. (SRGE) issued a press release announcing a joint venture with gold miner Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC). Only thing is, the joint venture appears to exist only in Southridge’s imagination.

Kinross issued this statement last night:

Kinross wishes to make clear that there is no such joint partnership, joint venture or other similar such arrangement or agreement in place, and nor do we expect there to be such a joint partnership, agreement, acquisition, investment or other equivalent transaction involving Kinross and Southridge in the foreseeable future. The statements regarding the value and status of the joint partnership are, to the best of Kinross’ knowledge, without any basis in fact. The statement attributed to the Kinross employee in the Southridge news release was incorrectly attributed to him.

Southridge is a penny stock that trades over the counter. Last night’s closing price was $0.01. The company’s market cap, according to Yahoo! Finance, is $4.81 million.

Kinross shares closed at $9.54 last night, in a 52-week range of $7.11 to $13.11. The company’s market cap is $10.87 billion.

Paul Ausick