Court finds against Bacanora in estate litigation

Bacanora Lithium updated the market on its litigation with the estate of Colin Orr-Ewing over its challenge to the validity of the lithium royalty over the Sonora Lithium Project on Tuesday.

The AIM-traded firm said in its annual financial statement for the year ended 31 December 2020 that the Alberta Court held a hearing on 9 March to hear the estate's application for summary trial, on the grounds that the company's action was time-limitation barred.

It said on Tuesday that the court had now issued its judgement, finding in favour of the estate.

“The company intends to appeal this judgement on a point of law and will provide further updates as required,” the board said in its statement.

“The company maintains that the royalty is invalid on the grounds of misrepresentation and a lack of consideration and intends to exhaust all legal avenues on behalf of all its shareholders to ensure that the Alberta Courts adjudicate fully on the merits of the case, rather than restricting their review to a technical time limitation defence.

“The company has at all times taken a conservative approach to the treatment of the purported royalty, and included it fully in the financial model for the Sonora feasibility study published in 2018, as well as all financial projections to investors and debt funding partners.”

At 1540 BST, shares in Bacanora Lithium were down 1.8% at 55.98p.