Northern Superior Resources Inc. Initiates Final Preparations for Trial Against the Ontario Government: October 5th
SUDBURY, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sep 8, 2015) - Northern Superior Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SUP) ("Northern Superior" or the "Company") is now in the final phase of preparation for the trial of its lawsuit against the Ontario Government, scheduled to start October 5th, 2015. Following a busy summer of preparing and processing legal documents and organizing witnesses, several key steps have either been completed, or are in the process of being completed, in preparation for the trial.
Of particular importance was establishing Northern Superior's quantum of economic damages resulting from the alleged acts and omissions of the Government of Ontario ("Ontario") which Northern Superior claims caused it to lose access to further explore and develop the Company's Thorne Lake, Rapson Bay and Meston Lake properties, located in northwestern Ontario. Northern Superior retained NERA, an international economic consulting company specializing in damage assessment and business related valuations, to assist in determining a fair and defensible value for the damages suffered by Northern Superior (see Northern Superior press release, May 11th, 2015). This report was submitted on time, as have all of Northern Superior's documents to the Ontario Government, on July 21st, 2015.
Subsequently, Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (" RPA"), the Ontario Government's expert witness on this matter, had an opportunity to respond to the NERA report. The Court set a date of August 28th for this purpose. This report (received August 31st) did not contain any substantive response to the valuation opinion in the NERA report. The trial judge has since directed both NERA and RPA to meet and provide to him a summary of their respective positions prior to the pre-trial conference to be held September 17th, 2015.
A second activity, separate but also in pursuit of the litigation, was the acquisition and processing of Ontario government documents under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation. The acquisition of these materials turned out to be important for two reasons: 1) Information earlier requested and required to be disclosed but withheld by the Ontario Government was extracted from these materials; and 2) clarification of Government activity (or lack thereof) and insight into the Ontario Government's decision-making process regarding several key events pertinent to Northern Superior's case. Despite first having made the request for all FOI materials in September 2013, the Company is still waiting for the final batch of FOI materials and the Government is still resisting disclosure as a result of which the Company has had to file appeals with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.
Finally, in order to expedite the trial process (saving both the taxpayer and Company's shareholders costs) Northern Superior compiled and submitted a lengthy "Request to Admit" document on August 14th. This document sets out issues that Northern Superior believes the Ontario Government should admit based on the extensive evidence so far obtained in the case, streamlining the trial process and allowing trial proceedings to focus on remaining key components of the litigation. Northern Superior is disappointed that the Ontario Government did not respond to this request by the prescribed deadline of September 3rd, although failure to provide materials by prescribed and Court imposed deadlines has been a constant theme for the Ontario Government (a primary reason for the delay in trial originally scheduled for June 1st).
Pertinent materials associated with this case are available on the Northern Superior's website (www.nsuperior.com) under the "Litigation" tab, or can be obtained from SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
About Northern Superior
Northern Superior is a junior exploration company exploring for gold in the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. The Company is currently focused on exploring its Croteau Est property in Quebec and its Ti-pa-haa-kaa-ning in Ontario. Northern Superior also has a number of other 100% owned properties in Ontario and Québec.
Northern Superior is a reporting issuer in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Québec, and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SUP.
For more information, please visit www.nsuperior.com.
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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This Press Release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. When used in this document, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to such risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including those factors discussed in filings made by us with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties, such actual results of current exploration programs, the general risks associated with the mining industry, the price of gold and other metals, currency and interest rate fluctuations, increased competition and general economic and market factors, occur or should assumptions underlying the forward looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, or expected. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.