A Vancouver-based Gold mining company alleges that the Chinese Communist government is trying to steal a $1 billion gold mine it invested in in Xinjiang.
Vancouver gold mining company Dynasty Gold Corp. is currently in a lawsuit with its Chinese partner over the ownership of a gold mine in Xinjiang. The company said they are actively seeking a settlement and said the mine has an estimated 536,000 ounces of gold resources, worth an estimated $1 billion at current prices.
Dynasty Gold invested $12 million in the Hatu gold mine in Karamay, Xinjiang, China, where Dynasty holds a 70 percent stake, with the remaining 30 percent owned by Chinese state-owned Xinjiang Nonferrous Metals Corp. The remaining 30 percent is held by Western Region Gold Co. Ltd, which is wholly owned by Chinese state-owned Xinjiang Nonferrous Metals Industry (Group) Co.
According to the Globe and Mail, Ms. Zhuang said the Chinese partners, who now hold a minority stake, are trying to take the gold mine away from her with the help of a local court. “They are simply taking away our gold mine. Our partner is the Chinese government in Xinjiang, so we’ve been seeking help from the Canadian government recently, but we haven’t gotten any help yet.”
She said the Canadian embassy in Beijing rejected her request for help on the grounds that the incident was a “commercial dispute.
“I’ve been trying to tell them (the embassy) that we’re a small Canadian company that’s fighting a state-owned enterprise controlled by the Chinese government, and they have the backing of the courts, and that court is not independent.” Ms. Chong said, “Our government needs to stand up and protect Canada‘s interests.”
The dispute began in 2016, Ms. Chuang said, when Western Gold Corp. applied to list the Hatu gold mine on the Shanghai Stock Exchange without Dynasty Gold’s consent, and its prospectus made no mention of Dynasty Gold’s majority stake, nor did Dynasty Gold receive any proceeds from the public offering.
In 2017, Dynasty Gold filed legal action against Western Gold JSC and Xinjiang Nonferrous Metals Industry (Group) Co. for damages and asked the court to restore the mine’s status as a joint venture. The Xinjiang District Court ruled against Dynasty Gold on the grounds that the defendants were not obliged to set up the joint venture under a memorandum of understanding signed by both parties, Ms. Zhuang said.
“The mine is currently worth $1 billion and we have not received a single penny.” Ms. Zhuang said, “There is no rule of law here.”
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