CONTACT: Chris Zimmer, (907) 586-2166, [email protected]
On April 28, 2014, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) notified investors on its Refilings and Errors List that Chieftain Metals Corp. was non-compliant in its mineral project disclosure. On the same day, Chieftain Metals issued a corrected Annual Information Form noting that the report had been revised “in connection with a continuous disclosure review by the Ontario Securities Commission.”
“Chieftain has a history of selective and self-serving public statements, some based on pie-in-the-sky predictions, that do not provide a complete and accurate picture of the proposed Tulsequah Chief mine to potential investors,” said Chris Zimmer of Rivers Without Borders. “The Tulsequah Chief project has serious risks and uncertainties such as opposition by the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, high levels of contaminants in the copper ore, unresolved problems with concentrate sales, potentially expensive long-term environmental liabilities, and ongoing violations of its waste discharge permit and the Canadian federal Fisheries Act. We applaud the OSC for forcing Chieftain to comply with disclosure laws and provide more accurate information.”
Chieftain’s April 28 press release, which the company did not post to its website, stated “at the OSC’s request, the Company withdraws the disclosure it made in a corporate presentation at a conference in January 2014 where the Company disclosed estimated net asset value figures of its Tulsequah Chief project based on established mineral reserves as well as potential net asset value increase based on a sensitivity of its established mineral reserve following future exploration plans.”
“It appears that Chieftain was trying to create an expectation of a potential increase in the value of the currently proposed Tulsequah Chief project based on predictions of a larger mineral deposit from exploration the company hasn’t even done yet,” said Zimmer. “The existence of a larger, more economical deposit has not been substantiated and no development beyond the currently proposed Tulsequah Chief mine has undergone any environmental assessment or permitting.”
Canadian securities regulators have requirements for when and how information must be disclosed. This helps provide investors with timely and accurate information to make informed investment decisions. The OSC investigates alleged breaches of securities law such as misleading disclosure. If a company contravenes securities law, the OSC can issue a cease trade order on an issuer’s securities, or order a public company to restate and refile its financial statements.
Chieftain is the owner of the proposed Tulsequah Chief mine project located on the banks of the Tulsequah River, a major tributary to the Taku River, and just upstream of the Alaska/British Columbia border. The Taku watershed is the transboundary region’s most productive salmon river and of great cultural and economic importance to the Taku River Tlingit First Nation. The proposed mine has the potential to harm downstream commercial, sport and subsistence fisheries and the Tlingit way of life, and has caused controversy for over two decades.
A lawsuit filed on December 17, 2013 by the Taku River Tlingit First Nation naming the British Columbia Minister of Environment, Environmental Assessment Office and Chieftain Metals as respondents could void the Environmental Assessment Certificate for the proposed Tulsequah Chief mine. The legal challenge asserts the Environmental Assessment Office erred in its determination that granted the Certificate for the life of the mine, and asks that the decision be quashed, causing the Certificate to expire. Without the Certificate the Tulsequah Chief mine proposal cannot proceed.
Rivers Without Borders is a project of Tides Center.
“Protecting Alaska – British Columbia transboundary watersheds since 1999, with staff and associates in Alaska, British Columbia and Washington.”