- Contractual and environmental
liabilities not accounted for in Titan’s financial statements could
amount to tens of millions of dollars
- Evidence reveals that Andina &
Titan management (given the cross-directorship) should have known
about secretly buried cyanide bearing tailings since 2016 as the
owner informed Tulin Gold's management and because the plant's
tailings facilities were at capacity with no further storage
room
- Titan has yet to address the issues
raised in earlier news releases regarding their misleading public
disclosures
- Mr. Piggott launches to new
website—www.coretruth.ca—to shine a light on Titan’s murky
disclosures
- Shareholders encouraged to vote AGAINST
the Proposed Arrangement well in advance of the voting deadline of
5:00 p.m. (Vancouver time) on June 7, 2019
- Questions? Need Help Voting? Contact
Kingsdale Advisors at 1-866-851-4179 or
contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com
Keith Piggott, owning approximately 7% of the issued and
outstanding shares of Core Gold Inc. ("Core Gold" or the
"Company") (TSXV: CGLD, OTCQX: CGLDF) continues to uncover
disturbing facts about ASX-listed Titan Minerals Ltd. (“Titan” -
ASX: TTM) track record in Perú, including evidence of numerous
environmental, safety and occupational health violations between
2012 and 2018 at the Tulin toll milling gold plant (the “Tulin
Plant”) in Perú.
Tulin Gold—now a subsidiary of Titan—had been a lessee or
assignee of the Tulin Plant from 2012 to 2018. Mr.
Piggott has been in contact with the owner of the Tulin Plant and
has learned that Titan could be responsible
for approximately C$45 million in costs for toxic waste removal and
clean-up of cyanide tailings within the plant area as per
the terms of its contract with the Tulin Plant owner.
In previous press releases, Mr. Piggott has unveiled some
shocking revelations about Titan’s dismal environmental record at
the Tulin Plant that all Core Gold shareholders should be concerned
about ahead of the Company’s upcoming special meeting where
securityholders are being asked to vote on value-destructing plan
of arrangement pursuant to which Titan will acquire all of the
issued and outstanding commons shares of Core Gold (the
“Proposed Arrangement”)
Revelations in previous press releases include:
- Government reports prove that Titan’s
Tulin plant has been marred with violations and penalties for
spillages of tailings and toxic chemicals into the soil and
waterways, activities which have raised public health and
environmental concerns from nearby residents, particularly about
their children’s health.
- A spill had occurred at the Tulin plant
affecting an archaeological zone.
- Mr. Piggott has confirmed, through
notarial sworn statements of witnesses, that Titan has buried
cyanide-bearing tailings in the lands surrounding the plant, hiding
such illegal actions from the authorities, the local population and
the owner of the lands, by doing so in the dead of night. In one of
the notarized declarations provided to Mr. Piggott, the witness,
states the following:
“Within the previous seven years some
nonconformities were observed in the operation of the plant by
Tulin Gold Co. S.A.C. having complaints about irregularities before
the DREM due to tailings spills, in times of constant rains,
flowing fluids out of the plant area to the river bed, resulting
in bird deaths, soil poisoning and possible damage to children's
health. The complainant asks for medical examinations of the
children of the town and evaluations for toxicity.” (emphasis
added)
Importantly, the C$45 million in clean-up
costs does not include cleanup of the tailings secretly buried
outside the plant.
“Such an appalling environmental track record has long-lasting,
and in some cases irreversible, consequences: legal, financial and
reputational. On the financial side this means that Titan and/or
its Tulin Gold subsidiary may be facing tens of millions of dollars
in liability none of which is reflected in its financial
statements,” said Mr. Piggott. “Without taking these environmental
liabilities in account, how can shareholders of Titan know the true
state of their company? How can Core Gold board of directors
recommend that its shareholders vote for the Proposed
Arrangement?
“I encourage all Core Gold shareholders to review these
materials and vote AGAINST the Proposed Arrangement to save your
investment.”
OWNER OF TULIN PLANT SHARES LETTER ILLUSTRATING GRAVE
SITUATION AT TULIN PLANT, CONFIRMING BURIED TAILINGS
Over the past 48 hours, Mr. Piggott has received additional
documented information from the owners of the Tulin plant (the
“Tulin Plant Owners”), who also own the lands surrounding the
plant.
These documents include notarized correspondence, from 2016,
between the Tulin Plant owners and the General Manager of Titan’s
subsidiary, Tulin Gold Co S.A.C
“I have learned that your company's staff has
proceeded to bury tailings outside the facilities of my Tulin Pilot
Plant, for this reason I request that you promptly arrange the
relocation of the mentioned tailings in order to avoid complaints
and denunciations by the affected population.
Also, I let you know that I will not accept
that the aforementioned items be relocated back to the facilities
of my plant because as you know the storage capacity of the tailing
pads at my plant are reaching their limit, and that is why,
nowadays, we find ourselves occupied to see how to solve this
problem.
The urgency of solving the problem of the
relocation of the buried tailings is justified by the fact that the
we are currently managing an expansion proposal for my plant before
the relevant authorities, which is why a guided tour of my land is
pending, to the plant and the surroundings of the same, so that if
the aforementioned relocation is not effected my expansion project
would be affected because it would be declared null or not
feasible.
As you will understand a decision of this
type would seriously affect the development and expansion of my
plant and consequently would endanger my investment.
For the above reasons I request you to take
urgent measures for the relocation of the tailings and also, in
light of this grave act by your personnel, that I reserve the right
to make the denunciations of the case [to the authorities], in
compliance with established legal norms.”
With this letter, it is clear that management at Tulin Gold were
fully aware that their staff had buried tailings in 2016 yet they
failed to disclose this information in Perú or Australia, to our
knowledge failed to remediate, and allegedly from the evidence
provided in notarized statements continued to bury tailings.
Andina & Titan management (given the cross-directorship)
should have known about secretly buried cyanide bearing tailings
since 2016 as the Tulin Plant owner informed Tulin Gold's General
Manager who was also a board member at Andina with Titan Executive
Director Mr. Matthew Carr in 2016.
TITAN IS TRYING TO HIDE FROM ITS ENVIRONMENTAL RECORD
In previous press releases, and in his proxy circular, Mr.
Piggott has provided evidence showing Titan’s Tulin Plant was
marred with environmental violations and penalties as recently as
2018 and dating back to 2012. To date, however, we have yet to see
Titan or Core Gold disclose this information to shareholders.
For example, it is telling that Titan has simply erased Tulin
Gold Co. S.A.C. from its organizational chart in Core Gold’s
Management Information Circular, dated May 10, 2019 (the
“Circular”) where it includes the following, rather dry,
statement on its Tulin operation (at page “G” – 9):
“Prior to commissioning the Vista Plant,
Titan operated the Tulin gold treatment plant in southern Peru (the
"Tulin Plant"), however, since December 2018, Titan has
ceased processing ore operations at the Tulin plant”
At page “G” – 49 of the Circular, Titan states:
“Titan also maintains the strong operational
team that Andina built over many years operating the Tulin plant
and this team now continues to operate the Vista plan for Titan
accompanied with a favourable reputation in the region...”
The evidence that Mr. Piggott has uncovered belies Titan’s
words, particularly regarding the practices of Titan’s “strong
operational team” which should worry all those concerned, not least
Core Gold’s shareholders.
The above revelations are also in stark contrast to the repeated
assurances by Titan to its shareholders and regulators regarding
compliance with environmental regulations.
In Titan’s 2017 and 2018 Annual Report, for example, Titan’s
Executive Director Matthew Carr attested to the following in the
respective Directors’ Report:
“Environmental Issues: The Company's
operations comply with all relevant environmental laws and
regulations, and have not been subject to any actions by
environmental regulators.” (emphasis added)
MR. PIGGOTT LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE TO SHINE LIGHT ON TITAN’S
MURKY PUBLIC DISCLOSURE AND QUESTIONABLE OPERATIONAL TRACK
RECORD
Mr. Piggott notes that since his initial news release on May 13,
2019, neither Core Gold nor Titan have dared to address the
alarming issues he has uncovered and fully documented. In their
panic, as more truth about Titan comes to light every day, they are
unable to accept that the Proposed Arrangement is doomed. Titan’s
shocking environmental record at the Tulin plant renders it
radioactive. Meanwhile, Titan and Core are blindly claiming that
the revealed information is “false, misleading and slanderous”
(Titan) or “false and inaccurate” (Core). You be the judge.
Unlike Titan, Mr. Piggott is not afraid of directly engaging
with the truth in order to assist existing and potential
shareholders, of both Core Gold and Titan, and regulators in
Australia and Canada, to make informed decisions.
To that end Mr. Piggott has set up a website, www.coretruth.ca,
to keep shareholders informed about the shocking revelations about
Titan’s dismal track record in Peru. The website includes links to
Mr. Piggott’s press releases, information on how to vote AGAINST
the Proposed Arrangement, and will shortly include background
information and documents referenced in this press release.
Titan has committed many red-card offenses in Perú which have
been kept, until now, under wraps. The Peruvian people deserve to
know the truth. Core Gold shareholders deserve better. Titan’s
shareholders deserve better.
It is Mr. Piggott’s view, and that of vast majority of
shareholders that have recently approached him, that Titan is
certainly not the sort of company that could be entrusted with Core
Gold’s assets in Ecuador.
ONLY YOUR VOTE CAN SAVE YOUR INVESTMENT
Shareholders will be receiving proxies in the mail shortly and
are encouraged to vote AGAINST the Proposed Arrangement with
Titan.
The Proposed Arrangement is not in the best interest of Core
Gold shareholders. Titan is a company with illiquid shares,
questionable governance, and a track record of destroying
shareholder value.
Core Gold shareholders need to understand that this deal
threatens to destroy their investment.
Vote AGAINST the Proposed Arrangement today.
The deadline to vote is Friday, June 7, 2019 at 5:00 pm
(Vancouver time).
If you have any questions, or need help voting or exercising
dissent rights, contact Kingsdale Advisors at 1-866-851-4179 or
contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com. There is a team standing by to
assist you.
ADVISORS
Mr. Piggott has retained Koffman Kalef LLP and Farris, Vaughan,
Wills & Murphy LLP as his legal advisors and Kingsdale Advisors
as his strategic shareholder, communications and proxy advisor.
ABOUT KEITH PIGGOTT
Keith Piggott is a seasoned mining developer and operator with
over 50 years of experience in Africa, Australia, Mexico and South
America. Mr. Piggott as CEO, and as an investor, rescued Dynasty
Metals and Mining from certain bankruptcy and the loss of all its
assets in 2016. He has worked diligently for over two years to take
the company, as Core Gold Inc., from a $5 million market
capitalization to over $40 million market capitalization before the
Titan proposal. He can be contacted at kpiggott100@gmail.com, by
phone at 520-247-5753.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190526005048/en/
For further information, please contact:
Keith PiggottTelephone: (520) 247-5753Email:
kpiggott100@gmail.com
For media inquiries, please contact:
Ian Robertson, Executive Vice President, Communication
StrategyKingsdale AdvisorsTelephone: (416) 867-2333Cell: (647)
621-2646
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