VANCOUVER,
Aug. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - Bear
Creek Mining (TSX Venture: BCM) ("Bear Creek" or the "Company")
announces that it intends to commence an arbitration proceeding
against the Republic of Peru
("Peru") pursuant to Article 824 of the Free Trade Agreement
between Canada and the Republic of
Peru (the "Canada-Peru
FTA"). Bear Creek has submitted the formal request on
August 11, 2014 and is completing the
required formalities to commence the arbitration proceedings. While
Bear Creek remains committed to continuing discussions with the
government of Peru to resolve and
settle the dispute relating to the Santa Ana mining project,
commencing the arbitration proceedings is necessary to preserve the
Company's rights under the Canada-Peru FTA. Commencing the
arbitration proceedings against Peru does not preclude Bear Creek from
continuing to participate in settlement negotiations with the
government of Peru, which Bear
Creek intends to do.
Bear Creek delivered to the Peruvian Minister of
Economy and Finance, on February 6,
2014, a Notice of Intent to Submit a Claim to Arbitration
("Notice of Intent"), under the Canada-Peru FTA (see news release
dated February 7, 2014). The filing
of the Notice of Intent initiated a six-month consultation period
between the parties during which time the Company continued to
attempt to amicably settle the dispute. No settlement was
reached during that six-month period. The dispute arises,
inter alia, out of the enactment by the government of
Peru on June 25, 2011, of Supreme Decree 032 rescinding
the Company's rights to operate the Santa Ana mining project and
which resulted in a complete stoppage of activities at Santa Ana
and significant damages to the Company.
Andrew Swarthout,
CEO and President, stated "while I would characterize the
settlement discussions to date as being productive and significant
progress has been made towards an agreement, the protracted
discussions have not yet produced a final settlement agreement
within the mandated timeframe under the Treaty and the Company is
required to take this action which fully protects Bear Creek's
rights. The government of Peru continues to send a clear message that it
wishes to resolve this matter and it has committed to maintain the
momentum in our negotiations. We too remain committed to working
towards an amicable final resolution of the dispute which we hope
will occur in the near-term."
Mr. Swarthout added, "the permitting process at
Bear Creek's Corani silver-lead-zinc project, which represents the
majority of the Company's value, continues to make good progress.
Detailed engineering, including project optimization, are
progressing solidly towards permit applications in Q1 2015 and
community relations remain on very solid ground. Interaction
with the Government with respect to Corani continues to be
positive."
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.
Cautionary Note regarding Forward-Looking
Statements:
This document contains "forward-looking
information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation
and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This
information and these statements, referred to herein as
"forward-looking statements" are made as of the date of this news
release or as of the date of the effective date of information
described in this news release, as applicable. Forward-looking
statements relate to future events or future performance and
reflect current estimates, predictions, expectations or beliefs
regarding future events and include, without limitation, statements
with respect to (i) the Company's plans to continue discussions
with the Peruvian government and local communities for a settlement
of the dispute in relation to the Santa Ana Project, (ii) the
Company's plans to pursue any claims with regard to its projects in
Peru, including, without
limitation, any claims before an international tribunal, (iii) the
Company's intentions to complete any environmental and social
impact assessment or permitting application, and (iv) the planned
development of the Corani and Santa Ana projects, including the
timing thereof. Any statements that express or involve discussions
with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans,
projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or
performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as
"expects", "anticipates", "plans", "projects", "estimates",
"envisages", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals",
"objectives" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions,
events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be
taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms
and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and
may be forward-looking statements.
By their very nature, forward-looking
statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general
and specific, and risks exist that estimates, forecasts,
projections and other forward-looking statements will not be
achieved or that assumptions do not reflect future experience. We
caution readers not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements as a number of important factors could
cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the beliefs,
plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates
assumptions and intentions expressed in such forward-looking
statements. These risk factors may be generally stated as the risk
that the assumptions and estimates expressed above do not occur,
but specifically include, without limitation, risks relating to
variations in the mineral content within the material identified as
mineral reserves and mineral resources from that predicted;
variations in rates of recovery and extraction; developments in
world metals and minerals markets; risks relating to fluctuations
in the Canadian dollar relative to other currencies; increases in
the estimated capital and operating costs or unanticipated costs;
difficulties attracting the necessary work force; increases in
financing costs or adverse changes to global market conditions and
the terms of available financing, if any; tax rates or royalties
being greater than assumed; changes in development or mining plans
due to changes in logistical, technical or other factors, changes
in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; risks
relating timing and to receipt of regulatory approvals; adverse
changes to government approval processes; the effects of
competition in the markets in which the Company operates;
operational and infrastructure risks; and the additional risks
described in the Company's Annual Information Form, annual
financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for
the year ended December 31, 2013 and
in the feasibility study entitled "Corani Project, Form 43-101F1
Technical Report, Feasibility Study" filed by the Company on
December 22, 2011 filed on the SEDAR
website in Canada (available at
www.sedar.com). The foregoing list of factors that may affect
future results is not exhaustive.
When relying on our forward-looking
statements, investors and others should carefully consider the
foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. The
Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement,
whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by the
Company or on behalf of the Company, except as required by
law.
SOURCE Bear Creek Mining Corporation