HAITI ANNOUNCES FIND OF ORE-RICH GOLD FIELD The Ministry of Mines has announced the discovery of a major gold field in Grand Bois in Haiti's mineral-rich North. At a press conference yesterday, a Ministry spokesman reported the deposit contained an estimated 44 mln tons of ore, with each ton capable of containing 7,666 grams of gold. The spokesman gave no estimate of what he thought the find, discovered on Wednesday, was worth. However, mining could only begin after foreign partners invest eight mln dlrs needed for technical equipment, the spokesman said. The Haitian government has never before operated a gold mine, but the United Nations has recently completed a three year feasibility study which lists Grand Bois and Morne Bossa as sites of important gold deposits. In 1971, the Sedren copper mine in Gonaives, operated by a Canadian firm, closed down after years of mining a concentrate containing gold as well as copper. "The new Grand Bois mine represents large amounts of money," said a former official of Sedren Mine. "But like everything else there's a catch. The gold has to be extracted, and first someone has to come up with the money to finance the operation," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.