Khan Resources claims damages from ARMZ in Canadian court

There has been no follow-up to reports that Khan Resources has filed a statement of claim with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, seeking damages of USD283.7 million from Russia"s State-owned uranium miner Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ) and its subsidiary JSC Priargunsky Industry Mining and Chemical Union.

The claim, brought by Khan and certain of its subsidiaries, seeks damages “resulting from their breach of fiduciary duties as one of Khan"s joint venture partners and a shareholder of CAUC, general damages resulting from their unlawful interference with the plaintiffs" economic relations, general damages resulting from their deliberately causing damage to Khan"s and its subsidiaries" rights, business reputation and property and aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages”.

The statement of claim alleges, among other things, that the harmful conduct of ARMZ and its affiliates, namely in seeking to establish a joint venture with the Government of Mongolia over the Dornod uranium region without regard to Khan"s rights and interests, impugning the legitimacy of Khan"s interests in Mongolia, interfering with its economic relations with MonAtom LLC, and interfering with the competing and superior take-over bid by CNNC Overseas Uranium Holding Ltd., all with the goal of eliminating Khan"s interests in Mongolia, has caused Khan, its subsidiaries and its shareholders substantial damage.

Khan “had no choice but to pursue a formal claim in order to try to protect Khan"s rights and interests and seek compensation for the significant damage we believe Khan has suffered,” CEO Grant Edey said in a statement. "ARMZ has made no secret of its desire to acquire control of the Dornod uranium property in Mongolia," he said. Khan"s main asset is a 58% stake in the Central Asian Uranium Company (CAUC), which in turn holds rights to the Dornod uranium project, in Mongolia. ARMZ owns 21% of CAUC though JSX Priargunsky, and the Mongolian Government holds the balance.Last year, ARMZ launched a hostile offer for Khan, which the Canadian junior rejected as opportunistic. ARMZ backed off the offer in February, after Khan agreed to be acquired by China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), although that deal was later broken off. Khan alleges that ARMZ sought to set up its own joint venture with Mongolia to develop Dornod, and also interfered in the CNNC deal. It also suggests that the Russian firm was involved with the license problems the company has had in Mongolia.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog