Trading Symbol: TSXV: IG
CALGARY,
Feb. 10, 2014 /CNW/ - Infinito Gold
Ltd. (the "Company") today announced that it has filed a Request
for Arbitration under the Arbitration Rules of the International
Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Republic
of Costa Rica ("Republic") seeking
compensation for losses caused to the Company and to its Costa
Rican subsidiary, Industrias Infinito S.A. ("Industrias Infinito"),
resulting from Costa Rica's
violations of the Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of
Costa Rica for the Promotion and
Protection of Investments ("Canada-Costa
Rica Treaty") in regard to the Company and its investments
in Costa Rica relating to the
Crucitas project.
The filing of the Request for Arbitration
follows notice the Company provided to the Republic in April 2013 and July
2013 that it considered the Republic to be in breach of
provisions of the Canada-Costa
Rica Treaty and inviting the Republic to settle the dispute
amicably.
The Company remains hopeful that, despite its
having to take the next procedural step of filing the Request for
Arbitration, the dispute can still be amicably settled.
In its Request for Arbitration, the Company is
seeking to be compensated for expenditures made beginning in 1993
to develop and build a gold mine at Crucitas. Approximately
US$94 million has been spent on the
Crucitas project, over US$5 million
of which was directed to educational and training programs, school
improvements, extending power lines to the town of Crucitas and
upgrading an important local road that was virtually impassable in
the wet season.
Between 1993 and 2010, the Republic granted to
Industrias Infinito all the necessary permits and approvals to
allow the project to proceed to the construction and development of
a gold mine.
These included an exploration permit giving
Industrias Infinito the exclusive right to conduct exploration
activities in the project area, an exploitation concession giving
Industrias Infinito the exclusive right to extract, process and
sell minerals from the project area, an approved environmental
impact assessment, an executive decree declaring the project to be
in the public interest and of national convenience, and a 2010
decision from the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of
Costa Rica that the resolutions
and permits authorizing the project were constitutional and
lawful.
Beginning in 2011, however, as a result of
decisions of the Supreme Court of Costa
Rica contradicting its earlier decisions as well as measures
adopted by the Costa Rican executive and legislative authorities,
the Crucitas project was cancelled without compensation and
Industrias Infinito was prevented from taking any further steps to
develop the project.
These and other actions have had the effect of
denying the Company and Industrias Infinito, among other things,
their right to fair and equitable treatment and to be protected
from unlawful expropriation under the Canada-Costa Rica Treaty.
The Company emphasizes that, contrary to some
media reports, its objective in pursuing its legal remedies is to
recoup the costs that have been spent, plus interest, in developing
the project over the past 20 years, as opposed to the profits it
reasonably expected to earn had it been allowed to fully develop
the project.
Furthermore, the Company is disappointed that
this dispute has not yet been amicably resolved and hopes that the
matter can be settled without the need for the arbitral process to
proceed.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information
and Statements
Certain statements in this press release,
including the Company's evaluation of its legal rights and
strategic options, address future events and conditions and, as
such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors which may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the
statements. These statements are made as of the date of this
release but Company undertakes no obligation to update these
forward-looking information or statements if circumstances or
management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
information or statements.
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.
SOURCE Infinito Gold Ltd.