El Niño Ventures Inc. Corporate Update - Democratic Republic of the Congo
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ELN News March 5 2010
March 5, 2010 Vancouver, Canada. El Nino Ventures
Inc. ("ELN" or the "Company") (TSX.V: ELN; FSE: E7Q) wishes to announce an
update on the Company's business affairs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(the "DRC"). Upon review of the Company's exploration portfolio in the DRC, ELN
has made a decision to terminate its agreement with Phoenix Mining Corporation
SPRL ("PMC") to acquire a 70% interest in a joint venture company into which PMC
purportedly could transfer its rights to the DRC research permit designated as
PR9316.
As a result of ELN's notice of termination of the agreement with PMC, a claim
was initiated by PMC in the DRC against the Company. At the time this claim was
filed, George Kavvadias was a principal shareholder of PMC. The lawsuit alleges
that ELN is obligated under the terminated agreement to make a first anniversary
payment to PMC of $250,000 as well as to pay damages. Management's position is
that the DRC is not the forum for disputes under that agreement and that no such
payment obligation exists for various reasons including that the termination
notice was given in a timely manner prior to the first anniversary of the
agreement. The Company has retained legal counsel in the DRC to address PMC's
claims, all of which the Company firmly believes are unfounded and without any
merit.
The Company was also served at the same time with a claim filed in the DRC by
GCP Group Ltd. ("GCP"). George Kavvadias is also the Chief Executive and
principal shareholder of GCP. In 2007, Mr. Kavvadias had been retained on a
consulting basis as DRC Country Manager for ELN. In connection therewith, he
managed Infinity Resources SPRL, a DRC joint venture company owned by ELN (as to
70%) and GCP (as to 30%). GCP is claiming fees and expenses alleged to be owing
to it by ELN in connection with the provision of services alleged to have been
rendered by GCP to Infinity Resources SPRL. El Nino has retained legal counsel
in the DRC to respond to these claims which it firmly believes are unfounded and
without any merit.
The Company is also considering initiating counter claims relating to the above-mentioned
lawsuits and joint venture agreements.
About El Niño Ventures Inc. El Niño Ventures is a mineral exploration company, focused on copper/cobalt
exploration in the DRC (see releases January 12, 2009 and February 25, 2009).
The Company holds a 50% interest in an extensive base metal project located
within the Bathurst mining camp in Ontario, Canada. El Niño entered into an
option agreement with Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. and Xstrata Zinc Canada
whereby Votorantim may earn a 50% interest in El Niño's landholdings by
expending $10 million over 5 years and may further increase its interest in El
Niño's landholdings to 70% by expending an additional $10 million over a further
two years. Please see release dated August 6, 2009.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
"Harry Barr"
Harry Barr, Chairman
and Acting CEO
Further information:
Contact: Mark Feeney at
Telephone: +1.604.786.2387 Email:
Fax
604.683.4887, or visit www.elninoventures.com 2303
West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6M 2A3
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange
nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of
the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
Note: this release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events
or results and are based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose,
statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In
addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company
uses words such as "continue", "efforts", "expect", "believe", "anticipate",
"confident", "intend", "strategy", "plan", "will", "estimate", "project",
"goal", "target", "prospects", "optimistic" or similar expressions. These
statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results
may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including,
among others, the Company's ability and continuation of efforts to timely and
completely make available adequate current public information, additional or
different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be
imposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the
Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that
identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from
those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not
undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts' expectations or
estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements
to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements.
You can view the Next News Releases item: Thu Mar 11, 2010, El Niño Ventures Inc. Reports Soil Geochemistry Sampling Results on the Kasala Copper Project -- DRC
You can view the Previous News Releases item: Mon Feb 22, 2010, El Niño Ventures Inc. Appoints New Director and Chief Financial Officer
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