IMA faces Aquiline suit over Navidad claims
2004-03-15 11:53 ET - Street Wire
See Street Wire (C-IMR) IMA Exploration Inc
by Brent Mudry
The Argentinian exploration subsidiary of Aquiline Resources Inc. has filed suit against IMA Exploration in a staking dispute over the Navidad claims in Argentina's Chubut province. In a statement of claim filed March 5 in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Minera Aquiline Argentina SA claims IMA wrongfully used confidential regional exploration data to stake a 10-square-kilometre block of claims in December, 2002.
The allegations in the suit, filed by Vancouver lawyer Stephen Schachter of Nathanson Schachter & Thompson, have neither been heard nor proven in court. IMA has not yet had a chance to file a statement of defence.
Minera Aquiline claims that at all material times, it was the owner of staked mineral claims in the Rio Negro and Chubut provinces, and confidential information relating to them, and also the owner of confidential regional exploration information on unstaked claims in the provinces.
Prior to September, 2002, Minera Aquiline, formally known as Minera Normandy Argentina SA, was owned 100 per cent by major Newmont Mining.
According to the suit, Newmont wished to sell Minera's interest in the Calcatreu project and invited expressions of interest, providing prospective bidders with the confidential information protected by a signed confidentiality agreement. In January, 2003, public company Aquiline Resources, after reviewing the confidential data, executed a letter of intent to acquire the Calcatreu project from Newmont, but did not acquire it. Instead, Aquiline Resources acquired the shares of Minera Aquiline on July 10, 2003.
The suit claims IMA also expressed interest in September, 2002, and received the confidential data. Soon after, IMA representative Paul Lhotka allegedly made an initial three-day visit in mid-September to review the data, including the drill core, and the site of the Calcatreu project. The suit alleges that after this visit, IMA president Joe Grosso indicated IMA wanted to bid for the project, but it requested further information, the regional exploration data, in order to evaluate its bid.
Minera claims it provided this regional data in confidence, only for bid evaluation. On Oct. 30 and Oct. 31, 2002, IMA exploration manager Keith Patterson and Mr. Lhotka allegedly visited the site and were provided with this regional data, including rock chip data, trench and channel samples, bulk leach extractable gold sample results and soil results. After allegedly downloading this data on a laptop, they left.
A month or so later, in December, 2002, IMA staked the Navidad claims, a 10-square-kilometre block of claims in Chubut province, allegedly based on the improper use of the confidential regional exploration data. According to the suit, IMA had neither done any exploration nor obtained any assay samples prior to this staking. The suit claims that IMA held off on issuing a press release regarding these Navidad claims until Feb. 3, 2003, two days after Aquiline announced it had acquired the Calcatreu project from Newmont.
Aquiline claims IMA's staking and registering of the Navidad claims constituted a breach of contract and a breach of the duty of confidentiality. Aquiline further claims that after it sent IMA a letter to this effect on Oct. 2, 2003, IMA countered on Oct. 15, 2003, by filing suit against Aquiline, claiming the latter's assertions were made falsely or negligently.
Aquiline now seeks a constructive trust over the contested Navidad claims, in addition to unspecified general damages. |
