Canadian Royalties wins dispute

Vancouver Canadian Royalties (CZZ-V) has won the legal battle over a disputed ground on its Phoenix nickel-copper-platinum-palladium property in northern Quebec.

The Arbitrator, Claude Bisson of the law firm McCarthy Tetrault and former Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal of Quebec, rendered the ruling, in favour of the junior citing that the claimants Ungava Minerals (UNGV-CUB) "have not met the burden of the proof and have failed to establish by a balance of probabilities the essential facts necessary to justify the granting of any of the conclusions sought, and the claim is therefore dismissed.”

Canadian Royalties will, therefore, retain all of its rights in the Expo-Ungava and Phoenix Properties, which includes the area along the boundary, commonly referred to as the TK Zone.

The bad blood between the two companies stems from a dispute over the inclusion of a key piece of ground on the joint ventured property. A 4-sq.-km piece of land borders Canadian Royalties’ wholly owned Phoenix property and Ungava Minerals’ Expo Ungava property.

In early April, Ungava Minerals notified Canadian Royalties that the junior was in default of its option and joint-venture agreement because the border area, which includes the Mesamax NW grid and TK copper-nickel platinum-palladium discovery, was subsequently included into the Phoenix property.Canadian Royalties says the land was properly transferred by Ungava Minerals when the Expo-Ungava property was expanded and the boundary repositioned in June 2001.

Canadian Royalties can earn a 70% stake in the Expo Ungava property by spending $1.7 million over four years. It can boost its stake to 80% by completing a bankable feasibility study.

The property is 15 km south of Falconbridge‘s (FL-T) Raglan nickel-copper mine and hosts three mineralized structures — Expo, Cominga and Mesamax, all of which were discovered in the 1960s.

Resources at Expo-Ungava are pegged at 17 million tonnes grading 0.6% nickel and 0.8% copper. Included is a higher-grade core of some 3 million tonnes grading 1% nickel and 1% copper.