Louvem seeking $83 million in damages from partner Aur

Aur recently sued Louvem and St. Genevieve for alleged breach of contract after a proposed agreement, which would have given Aur a 65% stake in L ouvem and con trol of Louvicourt Twp., was blocked by the St. Genevieve board.

St. Genevieve Chairman Pierre Gauthier has declined to comment on legal proceedings which were launched by Louvem Sept 1 (the same day Noranda Minerals increa sed its stake in Louvem to 11.3% from 6.4%).

But according to Aur’s regional exploration manager Don Bubar, a party of four bailiffs and two Louvem representatives arrived at his office at around 4 p.m. and issued him with a counter suit and a writ of seizure for all documents relating to the Louvicourt Twp. joint venture.

In its statement of claim, Louvem accuses Aur of illegally withholding privileged information that would have allowed Louvem to evaluate the r eal potential of the Louvicourt property.

According to Louvem, Aur used the information in an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the Louvem control block. As a result, Louvem is seeking $83 m illion in d amages and requesting that Aur be removed as operator of surface exploration at Louvicourt Twp.

Louvem says it is also attempting to cancel a 1987 agreement which gave Aur the right to earn a 50% stake at Louvicourt Twp. where property ownersh ip is being disputed due to an alleged $40,000 payment default by Louvem.

Recently, Aur said it was seeking a court declaration that Louvem’s 50% working interest in the property be reduced to a 25% net profits intere st.

“There is no merit to any of the allegations that we drilled holes that they weren’t told about,” said Bubar.

Bailiffs then plugged in the photocopiers and spent most of the Labor Day week end making copies of documents in the Aur office. They were finally stopped on S unday when Aur got a court injunction to prevent them from seizing the documents.

“By that time, they had copied enough material to fill five file boxes,” said Bubar.

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