Teeshin suing 5 companies involved in Dome Mountain

Legal proceedings have been launched by Teeshin Resources of Oakville, Ont., in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against five companies, all of whom are involved in the Dome Mountain gold-silver project located 25 miles east of Smithers, B.C.

The five firms named in the lawsuit are Canadian-United Minerals, a British Columbia exploration company in which Sandhurst Mining N.L. of Australia has a major interest; 3115 Investments, a B.C. company controlled by Canadian-United; Total Erickson Resources, which is controlled by Total Compagnie Francaise des Petroles of France; Panther Mines a B.C. exploration company; and Reako Explorations, also a B.C. exploration company.

The lawsuit follows a contract dispute between Teeshin and Canadian-United which went to arbitration and which resulted in Canadian-United being replaced as project operator.

Teeshin is claiming damages arising from Canadian-United allegedly withholding drill core, drill logs and other data generated by Canadian-United from the Dome Mountain project, and the release of that data to other defendants alleged to be in breach of the Teeshin/ Canadian-United option agreement.

The claim against 3115 Investments, Total Erickson, Panther and Reako is for inducing Canadian- United to breach the confidentiality provisions of the Teeshin/Canadian-United option agreement.

Teeshin alleges the actions of the defendants resulted in Teeshin losing the opportunity to obtain certain financing and the 50% back-in right which was originally held by Noranda Exploration and which was sold to Total Erickson. In addition, Teeshin says it was forced to incur extra costs associated with exploration and financing.

The value of the claim will exceed half the value of the project, Teeshin says.

Teeshin reports it is carrying out a limited underground drilling program, additional geological mapping and bedrock contouring. The company says Dynatec Mining has been retained to incorporate the new data into the feasibility study and produce a qualifying report.

Based on current reserves of 320,000 tons grading 0.37 oz gold and 2 oz silver per ton, plans call for a production rate of 350 tons per day, Teeshin says. Exploration has indicated four other potential zones on the property, the company says.

Potential solutions to the outstanding differences among the parties have been discussed by Teeshin, Total Erickson and Canadian-United, and Teeshin says it expects negotiations will continue.