its back
Mountain-West taunts Barrick over Mina Pascua ownership
2011-12-07 20:41 ET - Street Wire
by Stockwatch Business Reporter
Mountain-West Resources Inc., in an inflammatory press release, says Barrick Gold Corp. has filed fraudulent documents with both the Ontario Securities Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States. This is a continuation of Mountain-West's support of a lawsuit by Jorge Lopehandia against Barrick over a group of claims called Mina Pascua, the Chilean half of Barrick's Pascua-Lama project.
Mountain-West says gold mining is prohibited on these claims because they are registered in Chile as salts and nitrates concessions, which precludes gold mining. This is not a new position by Mountain-West. All that is new in the continuing brouhaha is the allegation of fraud in Barrick's filings. Determining from Mountain-West which of Barrick's many filings it is referring to is not easy. If Barrick knows, it is not saying, as its senior manager of communications, Andy Lloyd, was unavailable for comment today. However, since 2001, Barrick's position has been the same. It says, "The lawsuit does not affect the development of Pascua Lama because the claims are not in the area of the mine."
A search of Barrick's recent documents points toward the company's Pascua-Lama technical report, filed March 31, 2011, as Mountain-West's target. It says that the company has "fully constituted mining rights in all of these exploitation concessions," which includes the claims that Mountain-West identifies as salts and nitrates concessions, where (it claims) gold mining is not allowed.
Mountain-West also claims Barrick is "lacking a clean title" to another group of concessions, called Tesoros. Those concessions, says Mountain-West's Brent Johnson, are listed in Chilean records with Mr. Lopehandia as the owner. According to Barrick's technical report, these Tesoros claims (976 square metres) are also included in the list of exploitation concessions.
On and on we go
Legalities aside, Mountain-West seems as determined as ever to continue supporting its colleague, Jorge Lopehandia, in hopes he can prove he owns Mina Pascua, the Chilean half of Barrick Gold Corp.'s Pascua-Lama project. Mountain-West started paying Mr. Lopehandia's legal bills in February, 2010, and has since advanced him almost $2-million. The parties had no agreement, written or oral, until May, 2011, and that only after the TSX Venture Exchange demanded one. Then, they announced that for 2,000 ounces of gold, Mountain-West could acquire the right to option 50 per cent of Mr. Lopehandia's portion of the disputed gold property. For that right, Mountain-West agreed to pay Mr. Lopehandia $925,589 (paid before the agreement), $1-million (paid Sept. 15) and the final $1-million within 15 days of exchange approval. Since moving to the Canadian National Stock Exchange in August, the company changed the condition for the final $1-million to after Mr. Lopehandia registers the claims in the company's name in Chile. Should Mr. Lopehandia win in court, Mountain-West will need another $1-billion to exercise its option on the 50-per-cent interest. At July 31, the company had negative $158,000 in working capital. It has been trying to close an $820,000 financing since October, which it subsequently increased to $2-million in November.
An annoying mosquito
In its press release, Mountain-West challenged Barrick and Peter Munk to a meeting in Vancouver with Mr. Lopehandia. Mountain-West has asked Barrick to "provide the Chile titles and maps you represented to Silver Wheaton in the multimillion-ounce silver transaction from Chile." (In 2009, Silver Wheaton Corp. arranged to advance Barrick $625-million in exchange for 25 per cent of the silver from Pascua Lama, and all of the silver from four other Barrick mines.)
Mountain-West's chief executive officer, Brent Johnson, has not heard from Barrick. He told Stockwatch that "Barrick hasn't phoned us yet because they know we are correct, we are not lying, we are not exaggerating." He would not comment on the status of Mr. Lopehandia's Chilean lawsuit, the one for which Mountain-West has given him nearly $2-million; although, he anticipates releasing more news soon. He specifically mentioned one Mountain-West news release coming out Thursday "that will be a blockbuster."
So far, Barrick is not rising to the bait.
(Previous information regarding Mountain-West and Mr. Lopehandia can be found in Stockwatch articles dated Jan. 17, 2011, and March 3, 2011.)
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