1 July 2014
The Owners of CMdN, General Veloso and Diogo Cavaco, note the publication of the final results of Pathfinder Minerals plc for the year ended December 2013.
The purpose of this announcement is to clarify to investors in Pathfinder Minerals the true state of affairs.
Legal Proceedings in Mozambique
Pathfinder Minerals has stated that it has made two claims in Mozambique, the so-called First and Second Claims, first in respect of costs awarded by the UK court and second to recognise its UKjudgement. To date, the Owners have been notified of the First Claim only, and only in an amount of £106,000 not £1,106,000 as stated in the Pathfinder Minerals press release.
The Owners expect the Mozambique Court of Appeal to issue its judgement in respect of the First Claim in the next few weeks.
Pathfinder Minerals also claims to have made an application in August 2013 to recognize its UKjudgement (the Second Claim) but to date the Owners have not been notified of such an application.
The UK judgement was obtained in criminal breach of a Mozambique injunction and cannot therefore be recognized or enforced. Moreover, on 21 October 2013 Judge Arnaldo Rui Siquela of the IstCommercial Section of the Judicial Court of Maputo City confirmed, inter alia, that IM Minerals is not a shareholder of CMdN and did not pay the US$10m that would have entitled it to become the owner of CMdN. This ruling has the status of res judicata under Mozambique law and is therefore final. Pathfinder Minerals has itself admitted to the Mozambique Court that it never paid for the shares ofCMdN despite a very clear obligation to do so.
The Licence
The Owners are disappointed that Henry Bellingham, a former British Foreign Office Ministerpreviously responsible for this matter at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, has continued to repeat the untrue and defamatory statement that Pathfinder Minerals has had its licences “expropriated”.
As the Promoters are fully aware, the truth is very different. In May 2008, the Promoters of Pathfinder Minerals improperly expropriated the bearer shares of CMdN owned by General Veloso and DiogoCavaco, which were being held on their behalf by Charles Brooks of Penningtons Solicitors pending payment, and never returned them to safekeeping despite explicit written assurances that they would do so. To date no satisfactory answer has been provided by either the Promoters or Penningtons as to why these bearer shares were not returned to legal safekeeping.
The licences were lawfully returned to General Veloso’s company JV Consultores, the original owner of the licence, for breach of contract. Pathfinder Mocambique and General Veloso’s ownership of thelicence can be seen on the Mozambique Government website at:
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Notes for Editors:
In the High Court judgement obtained by Pathfinder Minerals in October 2012, the judge correctly found that the Share Option Agreement by which Pathfinder Minerals claimed to own shares of CMdN was indeed an option agreement, under which the option could only be exercised upon payment of the purchase price of US$10m, which has not been paid. Accordingly, under Mozambique law ownership of CMdN shares never passed to Pathfinder Minerals.
To this day, the Promoters of Pathfinder Minerals, Nick Trew, Gordon Dickie, John McKeon and Tim Baldwin have only ever paid the Option Purchase Price of US$100,000 in respect of the Option Agreement over shares of CMdN entered into in good faith by General Veloso and DiogoCavaco in 2006.
The owners remain highly confident however that while it is likely to take several years for this case to be finally resolved, they will be successful in defending their rights of ownership under Mozambique law.
