Arbitration Update – Submission of Reply
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LONDON, ENGLAND / ACCESSWIRE / November5, 2018 / GabrielResources Ltd. ("Gabriel" or the "Company") announces that it has submitted itsReply and counter-memorial on jurisdiction ("Reply") in its arbitration againstRomania under the rules of the International Centre for Settlement ofInvestment Disputes ("ICSID") part of the World Bank ("ICSID Arbitration").
The Reply, Gabriel'ssecond substantive written pleading in the ICSID Arbitration case, sets out a comprehensiverebuttal of the legal and factual contentions raised in the Counter-Memorial filedby Romania on February 22, 2018 ("Counter-Memorial") and includes Gabriel'sresponse to Romania's supplemental preliminary objection to the jurisdiction ofthe tribunal ("Tribunal") appointed to adjudicate the ICSID Arbitration ("JurisdictionalChallenge").
The Reply wasfiled in accordance with established procedural orders ("Procedural Orders") ofthe Tribunal, including a recent revision to the calendar that now includes thefollowing amended dates:
- Comments on submissions by non-disputing parties(if any are admitted by the Tribunal) by January 18, 2019
- Romania to file its response to the Reply("Rejoinder") and its reply on the Jurisdictional Challenge by May 10, 2019
- Gabriel to file its rejoinder with regard tothe Jurisdictional Challenge by June 14, 2019
- A hearing on jurisdiction and the merits of theclaim before the Tribunal from December 2 to 13, 2019.
A redactedversion of the Reply will be published on the ICSID website in due coursefollowing the completion of a process prescribed by certain Procedural Orders.
Dragos Tanase, Gabriel'sPresident and Chief Executive Officer, stated:
"The Roșia Montană Project met all of the applicablerequirements for the issuance of the key environmental permit, yet ultimately theRomanian Government unlawfully blocked the permitting process. The Reply highlightsthe abundant, contemporaneous evidence establishing Romania'sliability-creating conduct, which its Counter-Memorial fails to rebut, and unequivocallysubstantiates the factual and legal grounds of our claim, detailed in Gabriel'sJune 2017 Memorial that assessed the damages caused by Romania, with accruedinterest, at US$4.4 billion. Given the passage of time since the Memorial, andinterest continuing to accrue on the damages, that total has now risen toUS$4.75 billion."
For information on this press release, please contact:
DragosTanase President & CEO Phone: +4021223 1351 | RichardBrown |
Neither TSXVenture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is definedin policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for theadequacy or accuracy of this release.
About Gabriel
Gabriel is a Canadian resource companylisted on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's principal focus has been theexploration and development of the Roșia Montană gold and silver project inRomania ("Roşia Montană Project"). The Roşia Montană Project, one of thelargest undeveloped gold deposits in Europe, is situated in the South ApuseniMountains of Transylvania, Romania, an historic and prolific mining districtthat since pre-Roman times has been mined intermittently for over 2,000 years. Theexploitation license ("License") for the Roşia Montană Projectis held by Roșia Montană Gold Corporation S.A., a Romanian company in whichGabriel owns an 80.69% equity interest, with the 19.31% balance held by MinvestRoșia Montană S.A., a Romanian state-owned mining company. Itis anticipated that the Roşia Montană Project would bring over US$24 billion (at US$1,200/oz gold) to Romania aspotential direct and indirect contribution to GDP and generate thousands ofemployment opportunities.
Upon obtaining the License in June 1999,the Group (as defined below) focused substantially all of their management andfinancial resources on the exploration, feasibility and subsequent developmentof the Roşia Montană Project. Despite the Company's fulfilment of its legalobligations and its development of the Roşia Montană Project as a high-quality,sustainable and environmentally-responsible mining project, using bestavailable techniques, Romania has blocked and prevented implementation of the RoşiaMontană Project without due process and without compensation. Accordingly, theCompany's current core focus is the ICSID Arbitration. For more informationplease visit the Company's website at www.gabrielresources.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking information" (alsoreferred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicableCanadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are provided forthe purpose of providing information about management's current expectationsand plans and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding ofthe Company's operating environment. All statements, other than statements ofhistorical fact, are forward-looking statements.
In this press release, forward-looking statements are necessarilybased upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while consideredreasonable by the Company at this time, are inherently subject to significantbusiness, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies that maycause the Company's actual financial results, performance, or achievements tobe materially different from those expressed or implied herein. Some of thematerial factors or assumptions used to develop forward-looking statementsinclude, without limitation, the uncertainties associated with: the ICSIDArbitration, actions by the Romanian Government, conditions or events impactingthe Company's ability to fund its operations or service its debt, exploration,development and operation of mining properties and the overall impact ofmisjudgments made in good faith in the course of preparing forward-lookinginformation.
Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties,assumptions, and other factors including those set out below, that may nevermaterialize, prove incorrect or materialize other than as currentlycontemplated which could cause the Company's results to differ materially fromthose expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any statementsthat express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations,beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events orperformance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as"expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects","estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals", "objectives","potential", "possible" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions,events, conditions or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or"will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these termsand similar expressions) are not statements of fact and may be forward-lookingstatements.
Numerous factors could cause actual results to differ materiallyfrom those in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation:
- delay or extension to the duration ofthe ICSID Arbitration;
- required disclosure, costs, processand outcome of the ICSID Arbitration against Romania;
- changes in the liquidity andcapital resources of Gabriel, and the group of companies of which it isdirectly or indirectly parent ("Group");
- access to funding to support theGroup's continued ICSID Arbitration and/or operating activities in the future;
- equity dilution resulting from theconversion or exercise of new or existing securities in part or in whole toCommon Shares;
- the ability of the Company tomaintain a continued listing on the TSX Venture Exchange or any regulatedpublic market for trading securities;
- the impact on business strategy andits implementation in Romania of: unforeseen historic acts of corruption,uncertain fiscal investigations; uncertain legal enforcement both for andagainst the Group and political and social instability;
- regulatory, political and economicrisks associated with operating in a foreign jurisdiction including changes inlaws, governments and legal regimes and interpretation of existing and futurefiscal and other legislation;
- volatility of currency exchangerates, metal prices and metal production;
- the availability and continuedparticipation in operational or other matters pertaining to the Group ofcertain key employees and consultants; and
- risks normally incident to theexploration, development and operation of mining properties.
This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any ofthe Company's forward-looking statements.
Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance onforward-looking statements, and investors should not infer that there has beenno change in the Company's affairs since the date of this press release thatwould warrant any modification of any forward-looking statement made in thisdocument, other documents periodically filed with or furnished to the relevantsecurities regulators or documents presented on the Company's website. All subsequentwritten and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company orpersons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by thisnotice. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly orotherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list ofassumptions or factors, whether as a result of new information, future eventsor otherwise, subject to the Company's disclosure obligations under applicableCanadian securities regulations. Investors are urged to read the Company'sfilings with Canadian securities regulatory agencies which can be viewed onlineat www.sedar.com.
ENDS
SOURCE: GabrielResources Ltd.