The battle for riches from Ontario’s famous Hemlo gold camp is back in the courts.
Three motions are to be heard this week in the Ontario Court, General Division, regarding the 7-year-old lawsuit brought by Scintilore Explorations (TSE) against John Larche and Donald McKinnon. Larche and McKinnon, the original stakers of the Hemlo claims, became multi-millionaires after the properties were vended and placed into production.
Scintilore is suing McKinnon and Larche, seeking all the benefits and proceeds accrued to both men from the staking and sale of the Hemlo properties. These include: a 3% net smelter royalty (NSR) on the David Bell mine, owned jointly by Teck (TSE) and Homestake Mining (TSE); a 3% NSR on the quarter-claim of Hemlo Gold Mines (TSE); 400,000 shares of International Corona; and 2.7 million shares of Hemlo Gold which were issued to them. In Scintilore’s statement of claim, the company alleges that John Larche, who was contracted by the company to stake certain claims in the area in December, 1979, staked seven claims for himself without first notifying the company of his intentions. Those seven claims became the site of the David Bell mine. As a result of the pooling of interests acquired by Larche and McKinnon during their famous meeting in the bush, Scintilore says both men became constructive trustees.
Also named in the suit, as co-defendants, are Teck, International Corona Resources (now Homestake) and Hemlo Gold.
In one Scintilore motion, the Noranda group of companies, which includes Hemlo Gold, is asked to produce relevant documents pertaining to the allegations. The second Scintilore motion is against Lac Minerals (TSE), requesting documents in its possession. (However, Lac is not involved in the lawsuit.)
The defendants, including the companies, have made a motion to take back Scintilore’s expert reports on the claim tags and posts in issue. The motions are expected to be heard this week in front of Justice Archibald Campbell.
A previous lawsuit seeking ownership of the David Bell mine was dropped by Scintilore in February, 1991.
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