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by Mike Caswell

Vancouver resident Charles Shepherd has filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Lundin Gold Inc. over its $240-million acquisition of the Fruta del Norte project in Ecuador. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Mr. Shepherd claims that he did the initial work that led to the acquisition, and that he had an agreement entitling him to a finder's fee. He says that Lundin failed to honour that agreement.

The allegations are contained in a notice of claim that Mr. Shepherd filed at the Vancouver courthouse on Oct. 14, 2016. The problems, as described in the suit, go back to July, 2013, when Mr. Shepherd learned that Fruta del Norte could be available for purchase. The mine's then-owner, Kinross Gold Corp., had given up on the project after it was unable to come to an agreement with the Ecuadorean government. (The government demanded a 70-per-cent windfall profit tax. Kinross, which had spent $1-billion on the mine, refused to pay.)

Mr. Shepherd says that he had contacts and colleagues in Ecuador who had access to key government officials. Those officials were involved with the Fruta del Norte project, the suit states. Around the time that Kinross gave up on the project, he contacted William Rand, a director of Lundin Mining Corp. (which, as the name suggests, is affiliated with Lundin Gold). Mr. Shepherd says that he advised Mr. Rand about his contacts in Ecuador and the men discussed Fruta del Norte.

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