Colonial Coal International Corp.: WatCo Commences Litigation Respecting Watson Island
March 27 2014 - 7:08PM
Marketwired
Colonial Coal International Corp.: WatCo Commences Litigation
Respecting Watson Island
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Mar 27, 2014) -
Colonial Coal International Corp. (TSX-VENTURE:CAD) (the
"Corporation" or "Colonial Coal") announces that its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Watson Island Development Corporation ("WatCo"), has
retained McMillan LLP to advance litigation in the British Columbia
Supreme Court against the City of Prince Rupert (the "City") to
enforce WatCo's rights in connection with the acquisition of Watson
Island.
A Certificate of Pending litigation has also been filed to
prevent the land from being sold to others while the litigation is
outstanding.
WatCo has been working to purchase Watson Island for the last
several years and has been paying the City between $75,000 and
$90,000 per month under the terms of an Exclusivity Agreement.
In furtherance of the Exclusivity Agreement, the City accepted a
conditional offer to purchase for $5 million in 2012 which provided
for a definitive agreement to be entered into upon settlement of
claims by Sun Wave Forest Products Ltd. relating to the title to
Watson Island and certain asset located thereon.
The City settled with Sun Wave in August, 2013 and the parties
subsequently negotiated until February of this year to settle the
terms of a definitive agreement.
WatCo eventually accepted all of the terms of the definitive
agreement proposed by City and the City then advised that it would
not proceed with the sale of Watson Island to WatCo.
WatCo Director and Company President, David Austin, stated that
he was extremely disappointed at the sudden change in direction by
the City's Mayor and Council, precipitating the need for WatCo to
commence litigation. "WatCo continues to be committed to the people
of Prince Rupert, and to the purchase of Watson Island and the
significant remediation and redevelopment work required to ensure
that this important local asset is productive again and
contributing to local employment and the tax base in Prince
Rupert," said Austin, noting that, "We did not take the step of
commencing litigation lightly, but we decided we needed to do so to
protect our right to complete this transaction."
WatCo Chief Executive Officer, Perry Braun, noted that "WatCo
has paid in good faith millions of dollars to the City over the
past two years and now we must take legal steps to protect our
shareholder's interests."
WatCo was originally formed by a unique collaboration of the Lax
Kw'alaams and Metlakatla First Nations with the Corporation to
purchase the former Skeena Cellulose pulp mill lands near Prince
Rupert, B.C., and redevelop the property on Watson Island into a
seaport terminal and industrial park.
About Colonial
Coal International Corp.
Colonial Coal is a publicly traded pure-play coking coal
corporation in British Columbia. The northeast Coal Block of
British Columbia, within which our Corporation's projects are
located, hosts a number of proven deposits and has been the subject
of M&A activities by Xstrata, Walter Energy, Anglo-American and
others.
Additional information can be found on the Corporation's website
www.ccoal.ca or by viewing the Corporation's filings at
www.sedar.com.
Forward-Looking Information
Information set forth in this news release may involve
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are
statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this
context, forward-looking statements often address a company's
expected future business and financial performance, and often
contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate",
"expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may",
"might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other
similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or
other future events, to be materially different from any future
results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the
following risks: risks associated with marketing and sale of
securities; the need for additional financing; reliance on key
personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain
officers or directors with certain other projects; and the
volatility of common share price and volume. Forward-looking
statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and
opinions on the date that statements are made and except as
required by law, the Corporation undertakes no obligation to update
forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions
or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned
against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking
statements.
THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE
REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE CORPORATION AS OF THE DATE OF
THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH
DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING
INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY
OTHER DATE. WHILE THE CORPORATION MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT
UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT
AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE SECURITIES
LEGISLATION.
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.
Colonial Coal International Corp.Perry
Braun604.568.4962pbraun@ccoal.caColonial Coal International
Corp.Shane Austin604.568.4962saustin@ccoal.cawww.ccoal.ca
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