Statement of defence awaited in Scintilore claims lawsuit

A statement of defence in a lawsuit launched in the Supreme Court of Ontario last year by Scintilore Explorations (TSE), dealing with the staking of mining claims at the Hemlo gold camp in northern Ontario, has yet to be filed, shareholders of the company were told at the annual meeting in Toronto.

The company is suing prospectors John Larche and Donald McKinnon and four companies, claiming all benefits and proceeds flowing to the two men from the major claims staked by or on behalf of them at Hemlo, which currently hosts two producing gold mines.

Scintilore lawyer Donald Jack said Larche and McKinnon have challenged the April, 1987, statement of claim issued by Scintilore. Next appeal of their challenge, Jack said, is scheduled to be heard Aug 8.

Scintilore, in its statement of claim, says it is entitled to a 3% net smelter royalty on the David Bell mine operated by TSE-listed Teck Corp. (with partner International Corona Resources, also TSE-listed), a 3% net smelter royalty on a quarter-claim operated by Hemlo Gold Mines (TSE), and 400,000 shares of Corona and 2.66 million shares of Hemlo Gold issued to the two men.

In its annual report, Scintilore says legal action was commenced by Roy Newman in October, 1987, against the company, Robert E. Schaaf and Robert E. Schaaf & Associates claiming all benefits and proceeds which the latter may become entitled to should the suit against Larche, McKinnon and the four companies prove successful. “In the opinion of the corporation’s legal counsel, Mr Newman’s action is without merit and unlikely to succeed,” says the Scintilore report. The company also says it was not served with a statement of claim, in a $1.5-million defamation- of-character suit, within six months of it being instituted in the Supreme Court of Ontario on Oct 29, 1987, by McKinnon. The company says the claim has therefore expired and cannot be served.

Scintilore President Theodore Polisuk had no comment on a recent press report that corporate raider Carl Icahn in the United States has been involved in discussions on funding for the company. Scintilore has interests in four adjoining silver-lead-zinc-gold properties in Maine in the U.S.

At the end of 1987, the company reported a deficit of $621,579, and a cash position of $335,954. The company reported cash of $58,050 as of March 31 this year. Outstanding shares of the company as of May 11 totalled slightly more than six million.

Elected to Scintilore’s 3-member board of directors were Polisuk, Jean Depatie and Gilles Dubuc. Polisuk is listed as the only executive officer who performs a policy- making function for the company.