Ivanhoe executives reap rewards of hot share price, cashing in on stock options

Executives of Ivanhoe Mines have cashed in on stock options to fatten their modest salaries.

When shares of the Vancouver-based company took flight last summer, several of the top managers seized the chance to exercise their options.

Deputy Chairman Gordon Toll, who made C$261,000 in salary and benefits, unloaded more than 1.2 million stock options for a gain of C$11.35 million.

Daniel Kunz, who resigned as president a year ago, collected C$38,000 in salary and benefits before he quit, but cashed in 362,400 options for total compensation of C$3.3 million.

Edward Roberts, senior vice president of legal and administration, took home C$2.1 million, with C$1.9 million coming from stock options and Senior Vice President of Exploration Douglas Kirwin boosted his total package for the year to C$1.1 million by cashing in C$825,000 in options.

But company founder, Robert Friedland, who serves as chairman and chief executive officer, received no salary or bonus and did not touch his 1.5 million options.

At current trading values, Friedland's direct and indirect holdings in the company are valued at about C$800 million.

Ivanhoe had a blazing run last year, with shares starting at C$3.27 and climbing to C$15.30 before closing 2003 at C$10.30. They are now trading at close to C$8.

The share gains last year were propelled by encouraging drilling results at the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold deposit in Mongolia that set off speculation the find is one of the largest undeveloped projects in the world.

There has been speculation that the Oyu Tolgoi stake could be sold to a joint venture partner, with Phelps Dodge named as the likely bidder. Vancouver-based Teck Cominco could also be interested in acquiring a stake, said company Chairman Norman Keevil.