Palamina's Equity Partner Winshear Gold Commences Arbitration Proceedings Against the Government of Tanzania for the Expropriation of Its SMP Gold Project
Toronto, February 13, 2023 - Palamina Corp. (TSXV: PA) (OTCQB: PLMNF) holds 13,422,000 shares and 1,321,000 warrants representing a 19.99% partially diluted share position in Winshear Gold Corp. (TSXV: WINS). The following news release was disseminated by Winshear today:
Winshear Gold Corp. (TSXV: WINS) ('Winshear', the 'Company', or the 'Claimant'), formerly Helio Resource Corp., provides the following update on the dispute with the United Republic of Tanzania ("Tanzania") which is the subject of arbitration through the International Centre for Settlement of Investments Disputes ("ICSID"), a member of the World Bank.
The Company reports that the evidentiary hearing commences today in Washington D.C.. A three-person tribunal panel is presiding over the court hearings, which are expected to conclude on or before the close of business on Friday February 17th, 2023.
The ICSID Convention has been ratified by 158 States, including Tanzania. An award issued by an ICSID tribunal is enforceable in any one of those 158 member States as if it were a judgment of one of their own courts.
Winshear is represented by the international law firms LALIVE and Boies Schiller Flexner in the arbitration process. Both firms specialise in international arbitration with the Claimant seeking compensation of in excess of CDN$130M for the loss of its investment in Tanzania (including interest which continues to accrue). In addition, the Claimant seeks reimbursement of its arbitration costs and fees by Tanzania.
A litigation funding facility for US$3.3M is in place with Delta Capital Partners Management ("DELTA"), a firm headquartered in Chicago Illinois that specializes in litigation funding. This funding facility covers all legal costs associated with arbitration and is only repayable in the event of a successful award that is recovered from the United Republic of Tanzania.
Background to Claim
In July 2017, the Government of Tanzania amended the Mining Act 2010 by, inter alia, abolishing the Retention Licence classification. The Company's SMP Mineral Resource was wholly contained within four Retention Licences.
On 10 January 2018, Tanzania published the new Mining (Mineral Rights) Regulations 2018, which cancelled all Retention Licences at which point they ceased to have any legal effect. The rights over all areas under Retention Licences, including the Retention Licences held for the SMP Gold Project, were immediately transferred to the Government of Tanzania.
During the time from January 2018 to December 2019, the Company actively engaged with the Tanzanian Ministry for Minerals and the Mining Commission in an effort to resolve a suitable tenure mechanism for the Project Licence to be reinstated, without success.
On 19 December 2019, the Mining Commission of Tanzania announced a public invitation to tender for the joint development of areas covered previously by Retention Licences. The invitation provided that the successful bidder should compensate the previous Retention Licence holder.
On 20 December 2019, the Mining Commission of Tanzania announced a revised public invitation to tender, which removed the condition that the successful bidder compensate the previous retention licence holder.
Through the measures described above, Tanzania has removed the ownership of the Project from the Claimant, and the Claimant alleges that Tanzania, in doing so, has breached its obligations to the Claimant under the Canadian-Tanzania BIT and international law. These include, but are not limited to:
- Tanzania's obligation not to nationalise or expropriate the Claimant's investments or subject them to measures having effect equivalent to nationalisation or expropriation without prompt, adequate and effective compensation under the BIT; and
- Tanzania's obligation to accord fair and equitable treatment and full protection and security to the Claimant's investment and not to impair by unreasonable or discriminatory measures the maintenance, use, enjoyment or disposal of the Claimant's investment under the BIT.
Under the BIT the evidentiary hearing underway in Washington is being video recorded and will be made available to the public for review. Winshear will make this available to shareholders and the public on its website when it is available.
About Winshear Gold Corp.
Winshear Gold Corp. is a Canadian-based minerals exploration company advancing the Gaban Gold Project in the Puno region of Peru. Gaban is a possible hard-rock source for the modern-day alluvial gold rush underway in the Madre de Dios basin downstream.
The Company is in the process of concluding fully funded arbitration proceedings against the Tanzanian Government to recover its investment and damages for the expropriation of its SMP Gold Project in Tanzania.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
"Richard D. Williams"
Richard Williams, CEO
For more information, please contact Irene Dorsman at +1 (604) 200 7874 or visit www.winshear.com
About Palamina Corp.
Palamina has participation in 9 gold projects in south-eastern Peru in the Puno Orogenic Gold Belt (POGB). The Company also has rights to the Galena silver-copper project in the Santa Lucia district and two additional copper-gold projects in Southern Peru. Palamina holds a 19.9% equity interest in Winshear Gold Corp. who are advancing the Gaban Gold Project to the drill discovery phase. Palamina has 65,284,836 shares outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol PA and on the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol PLMNF.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors:
Andrew Thomson, President
Phone: (416) 204-7536 or visit www.palamina.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154565