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by Mike Caswell

Mercer BC, a private company controlled by Vancouver's Rahim Jivraj, has filed a countersuit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against West Vancouver promoter Gordon Brent Pierce and others, claiming that they manipulated Mercer Gold Corp. while secretly selling its shares. According to Mr. Jivraj, this "highly unlawful" activity amounted to a conspiracy to commit securities fraud. This harmed both public investors and Mercer BC.

The countersuit describes how Mr. Pierce boosted the stock with promotional campaigns that overstated the company's assets. He and his associates avoided regulatory attention by carefully concealing Mr. Pierce's control over the company, Mr. Jivraj says.

Mercer Gold's notice of claim

The counterclaim follows a lawsuit that Mercer Gold filed against Mercer BC on Sept. 16, 2011. (Mercer BC is a private company that, confusingly, is also named Mercer Gold Corp.) The dispute originally had no mention of Mr. Pierce. It revolved around the Guayabales gold project in Colombia, which Mercer BC had optioned to Mercer Gold in April, 2010, for 10 million shares. Mercer Gold claimed that Mercer BC was improperly trying to cause a default in the agreement.

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