Dispute filed in Saskatchewan

James Parres, president of CopperQuest (COPQ-C), has filed a lawsuit against Ipsco, a Regina-based steel firm, over rights to ground south of Choiceland, Sask., believed to be prospective for diamonds.

The legal dispute was triggered by a recent incident in front of the province’s Energy and Mines office. Representatives of both companies were standing in line waiting to file claims for the newly opened ground, which had been held as Crown reserve for sever-

al decades.

Parres says Ipsco obtained first place in the line on Aug. 14, three days before the government released its lapse list, and then hired commissionaires to hold that spot around the clock until its claim could be processed when the office opened on Sept. 1.

Parres says Ipsco lost its place to CopperQuest after one of the commissionaires briefly left his post on Aug. 30. “There was no one there, so we took first place,” he adds.

Parres’s jublilation was short-lived. The next day, Ipsco obtained an court injunction to regain its place in line, arguing that the commissionaire had “an assurance” from the person next in line that his spot would be saved while he visited the washroom. Ipsco filed affidavits from one of the commissionaires that such an agreement existed. The company has refused further comment.

Ipsco’s claim is “ludicrous,” Parres says, adding that he was “shocked” when the steel company obtained a court order, based on an ex parte application, to have a CopperQuest representative removed from first place. Ipsco also obtained a court order forcing the Saskatchewan government to register the claims.

“Everyone knows how the system works,” Parres tells The Northern Miner. “If you leave your seat for any reason, you give up your place in line. The commissionaires were under strict orders not to give up their spot for any reason. But they hauled me off to jail for defying the court order, and wouldn’t let me come back even after I was released. Is this Canada, or some third-world country?”