CANADIAN gold miner Placer Dome Inc said on Monday it would likely buy out joint venture partner Western Areas Ltd if the South African company sold its 50 percent stake in their gold mine. “If the Western Areas stake becomes available the likelihood is very good that Placer will buy it,” Patrick Evans, the joint venture’s vice-president of corporate affairs, told Reuters. Placer Dome, the world’s fifth largest gold producer, bought 50% of the Western Areas mine and its South Deep expansion project for $235-million in November 1998. Under the joint venture agreement, Placer Dome has first rights to the Western Areas stake if it comes up for sale. During a tour of the mine on Friday, analysts said they expected a sale announcement from Western Areas soon. The company was forced to review its future after losing a takeover battle for gold miner Randfontein Estates to rival producer Harmony Gold Co. Western Areas and Randfontein were to form the backbone of a new global miner with a primary listing in Canada. But the loss of Randfontein forced Western Areas to abandon the plan.