Margent Kent, still remembered by some as Peggy Witte, is having trouble with Century Mining.

Century Mining Corp., which she founded a couple of years back to kick-start a bankrupt operation in Val d'Or, Que., has launched a "strategic review process" — investment banker lingo that usually amounts to putting the company up for sale.

The review is necessary "in response to recent difficulties the company has encountered in its efforts to secure financing," the company said. "This review process was initiated as a result of Century's evaluation of severe equity market conditions and the current valuation of the company."

Kent was one of the most powerful women in Canadian business when she ran Royal Oak Mines. A long and bitter strike at the Giant mine in Yellowknife in the early 1990s rocked the company, which was ultimately liquidated when the gold price tanked later that decade. In a 2005 interview with the Post, she said she explained how she hoped to build Century Mining into a major gold producer. "We almost made it before. We're going to make it this time."

Drew Hasselback