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Gold/Mining/Energy : Regal GOldfields (REGL -- Cdn over the counter) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brian Warner who wrote (332)	3/13/1998 12:35:00 AM
From: Brian Warner	Respond to of 370

hfxnews.southam.ca Thursday, March 12, 1998 Barren listing 'in bad faith,' Regal argues By RACHEL BOOMER -- The Daily News When the province revoked Regal Goldfields' access to Jim Campbells Barren and put it back on a list of protected sites, it acted illegally and for purely political reasons, Regal's lawyer said yesterday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court. "This is directed against one group of companies, one company, and that is Regal," lawyer Stewart McInnes argued. "This is discrimination and it reeks of bad faith." Regal - which owns or has options to explore 95 per cent of the barren for gold - wants Justice Gerald Moir to overturn the province's decision to cut off its access permit. It's also asking Moir to rule the barren should not have been re-listed as a protected site. Failing that, the company wants Moir to award compensation for the $10 million it says it's already spent on exploration. It filed its lawsuit against government and the minister of natural resources in January. "We have eight targets in the Cheticamp Highlands, two of which are within the barrens, and one of those is a very significant target," company president Richard Brissenden told reporters outside the courtroom. In an affidavit filed with the court, Brissenden said geologist Fenton Scott estimates the barren contains at least 145,000 ounces of gold worth about $60 million US. Off list, then back on Jim Campbells Barren, a 17-square-kilometre site east of Cheticamp on the border of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, has been the centre of controversy for more than two years. Originally listed as one of 31 protected sites in December 1995, it was yanked off the list by the Savage government in December 1996 after lobbying by the Cheticamp Development Corporation. Premier Russell MacLellan announced Oct. 29 the barren would be put back on the protected list. Natural Resources Minister Ken MacAskill wrote Regal shortly afterward, telling the company its access to the barren, which is considered Crown land, was revoked. In February, the province put a moratorium on all exploration work on the barren - which McInnes said it did in response to Regal's lawsuit. The company's exploration licences are still intact, but will expire if Regal can't work on the land before December 31, 1998. Under pressure McInnes argued yesterday the province didn't have the right to revoke Regal's access to the barren under the Mineral Resources Act. He said it was a bad-faith decision made in response to public pressure, and Regal should have been allowed to work on the barren because its licence predated the moratorium. If the province is allowed to list or de-list lands at its political whim, McInnes told Moir, "then any mining claim can be interfered with at any time." The province's lawyer, Reinhold Endres, said it is the natural resources minister's job to interfere with mining claims if that's in the public interest, and argued because the barren is Crown land, the minister can grant or deny access as he sees fit. "Someone's got to decide the case, or people are going to hurt each other over it, and that person is the minister." McInnes argued yesterday the Savage government's decision to take Jim Campbells Barren off the protected list was made after a long public consultation process. Environmentalists sitting in on the case didn't agree. "There was no public consultation regarding the de-listing of the barren. It was done in secret. Nobody knew about it. Not even the people of the community nearby were aware that this was happening until it was a done deal," said Ray Plourde, director of the Nova Scotia Salmon Association and spokesman for a coalition of environmental groups observing the case. Endres will finish arguing the government's case today.

To: Brian Warner who wrote (332)	3/13/1998 12:39:00 AM
From: Brian Warner	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 370

herald.ns.ca Regal pleads case in court Premier unfairly targeted company: lawyer By DEAN JOBB / Staff Reporter The Nova Scotia government singled out Regal Goldfields Ltd. when it blocked mineral exploration on Jim Campbells Barren, the firm's lawyer claimed Wednesday. In a Supreme Court hearing in Halifax, Stewart McInnes attacked Premier Russell MacLellan's decision last fall to return the area of northern Cape Breton to protected status. "It's discriminatory and it reeks of bad faith," he argued, accusing the premier of "usurping" powers granted by law to the minister of natural resources. Regal wants Justice Gerald Moir to overturn ministerial orders barring access to the barren and imposing a moratorium on mineral exploration. The hearing will be completed today but the judge has not indicated when he will make a ruling. The legal action is the latest chapter in a seesaw battle between mining promoters and environmentalists over 1,700 hectares of bog and barren just outside Cape Breton Highlands National Park. A 1993 moratorium on mining was rescinded by the John Savage government in November 1996 after intense lobbying from business interests in nearby Cheticamp. Mr. MacLellan reversed the decision last Oct. 29, fulfilling a promise made during his campaign for the Liberal leadership. While Mr. McInnes characterized the reversal as the act of a government "under siege," it didn't offend Justice Moir's view of politics. "The government has to listen to the public, doesn't it?" the judge asked. Justice Department lawyer Reinhold Endres said the premier was casting himself "in a good light" when he took credit for the decision to protect the barren. Mr. MacLellan was "reiterating" the unanimous decision of a task force of three ministers, which included Natural Resources Minister Ken MacAskill. Outside court, a spokesman for a coalition formed to protect the barren took exception to Mr. McInnes's comments about "great debate" and input from "both sides" before the Savage government's decision. Ray Plourde of the Nova Scotia Salmon Association reminded reporters that "there was no public consultation regarding the delisting of the barren. It was done in secret." Mr. McInnes also claimed the future of Nova Scotia's mining industry is riding on the case. Companies need to be sure of their rights before investing in exploration and mine development, he said. "If the government position is correct, you might as well shut the industry down." The RCMP is probing allegations that cabinet's 1996 decision to delist the barren was leaked before it was made public. The Ontario Securities Commission is reviewing possible insider trading in Regal shares at that time. Regal has demanded unspecified compensation for loss of the barren, which has two promising targets for drilling. That issue will be dealt with separately.