U.S. REPORT Fairbanks, Ventures Trident settle antitrust suit out

An antitrust suit filed under court seal against Fairbanks Gold (TSE) was recently settled before becoming public. The court seal gives companies five business days to resolve a dispute before it becomes public.

Filed by a unit of Ventures Trident II, a limited partnership, the suit alleged that Fairbanks had certain restrictive agreements which hindered Trident’s financing ability.

Ventures Trident and Fairbanks have 49% and 51% interests respectively in the Fort Knox gold project near Fairbanks, Alaska.

In the process of attracting a buyer for its interest, Ventures said Fairbanks had “virtually every major mining company in North America,” some 30 in all, sign confidentiality agreements.

The agreements included a stipulation that if any of the companies were to acquire an interest in any mining property within two miles of the Fort Knox property, Fairbanks could purchase that property for one dollar.

This effectively prevented Ventures Trident from selling or financing its 49% interest in the Fort Knox project through any of the 30 mining companies since they would be required to sell it back to Fairbanks for one dollar.

Ventures Trident was forced to bring the antitrust suit against Fairbanks after that company allegedly refused to allow Ventures to deal with the 30 mining companies.

Lawyers for Ventures Trident alleged that the case was really about how Fairbanks Gold’s seemingly routine confidentiality agreements were used to control investor access to the Fort Knox project.

With the purchase restraint now removed, Ventures Trident is free to deal with any company interested in acquiring an interest in the project.