Last checked at 22 Oct 2013 15:18
For immediate release: 22 October 2013
Pathfinder Minerals Plc("Pathfinder" or the "Company")
Notice of Mozambique Court Order
As previously reported to shareholders, in April 2012 General Veloso, his company JV Consultores Internacionais, Limitada and Diogo Cavaco (the "Defendants") obtained an interdict (the "Interdict") against the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, IM Minerals Limited ("IMM"), with the aim of prohibiting IMM from taking action in the English courts to enforce the agreements by which IMM validly acquired its Mozambican subsidiary, Companhia Mineira de Naburi S.A.R.L. (which action has since been upheld by the English High Court).
The Company announces that on Friday 18 October 2013 it received notification of an order of the First Commercial Section of the Judicial Court of the City of Maputo (the "Order") declaring that the Interdict is void, on the grounds that the Defendants failed to file the main action on which the Interdict is dependant within the prescribed time period. Although that main action has since been filed (as announced by the Company on 21 December 2012), the Interdict itself has therefore expired.
Shareholders will recall that additionally, in November 2012, the Company obtained a judgment from the Maputo Court (the "Maputo Judgment") revoking the Interdict; and that in March 2013 the Defendants appealed against that judgment. Judgment in this appeal is still awaited.
IMM maintains that the Interdict did not apply to the pre-existing English proceedings in any event. This was endorsed by the judge at a hearing on 3 May 2012 in Maputo and confirmed in the Maputo Judgment itself. This is the case irrespective of the Order. Moreover, as pointed out in previous announcements, the Interdict does not apply to Pathfinder itself, since it is not a party to the Interdict proceedings.
Nick Trew, Chief Executive Officer, said: "The Board welcomes this further positive judgment from the Maputo Courts and will continue to take all appropriate legal steps to enforce the Company's rights and recover its assets."
The Company will provide further updates in due course.
Enquiries:
Pathfinder Minerals Plc
Nick Trew, Chief Executive
Tel. +44 (0)20 7464 8413
Daniel Stewart & Company Plc
David Hart or James Thomas
Tel: +44 (0)20 7776 6550
Vigo Communications
Ben Simons or Peter Reilly
Tel: +44 (0)20 7016 9574
Notes to Editors:
Pathfinder Minerals Plc is incorporated in England & Wales and is admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.
Companhia Mineira de Naburi S.A.R.L. ("CMDN"), a subsidiary of Pathfinder Minerals, was issued mining concession licences 760C and 4623C on 13 September 2004 and 13 July 2011 respectively, each for a period of twenty-five years. Taken together, these mining concessions cover approximately 32,000 hectares of land on the Indian Ocean coast of the Zambezia province of Mozambique, known to contain the heavy minerals, ilmenite, rutile and zircon.
As announced on 3 February 2012, ownership of these licences is being disputed.