Klagomål till australiensiska börsen

  • Inlägget publicerat:december 22, 2018
  • Inläggskategori:Senaste nytt

VetoNu skickade i torsdags in en klagomålsanmälan till ASX Compliance, klagomålsavdelningen på den australiensiska börsen. Vi påpekade att ScandiVanadium har glömt att upplysa aktiemarknaden om en del uppenbara saker i sina täta lägesrapporter om sitt projekt i Skåne. ScandiVanadium fick en kopia på brevet med nedan innehåll.

Brevet kan laddas ner som pdf här.

Dear Sirs,

Concerning non-disclosure of ScandiVanadium Ltd (SVD)

As the chairperson of vetoNu, a Swedish environmental NGO being a stakeholder in ScandiVanadium’s Skåne Project, I wish to draw attention to the following issues:

In ScandiVanadium’s latest report, named the Skåne Vanadium Project Update and dated December 12th 2018, ScandiVanadium fails to – as we understand it – report vital information that reasonably can affect the development and thus the value of the company.

This information concerns the following.

  1. The report does not reveal nor indicate delays in their exploration and drilling plans. These were scheduled and to many reported to commence this December. However, the County Administrative Board (CAB) in Skåne made a ruling in November that a simplified consultation procedure for drilling was inadequate and that a more thorough environmental consultational procedure is to be performed to  and with the municipal environmental protection office (whose ruling can be appealed to the CAB). At the end of last week, the municipal environmental protection office had not yet received any notification from ScandiVanadium for initiating an environmental consultational process. This will inevitably lead to a significant delay in the drilling plans. The director of the municipal environmental protection office, Carina Barthel, was cited in local newspaper Ystads Allehanda Dec 12, 2018 stating that even if a notification is handed in, no ruling can be made before March or April (2019). If that ruling would be appealed to the CAB, further delays can be expected.
  • It is noted that Australian market watch has included reporting from Swedish Television regarding “Vigorous grassroots and communal resistance to mineral prospecting in Österlen, Skåne”.  ScandiVanadium seems to neglect the fact that the number of appeals to the Administrative Court in Luleå have now reached a unusually high of  appeals, 356 in total, against ScandiVanadium’s exploration permits. With regard to uncertainty for ScandiVanadium future business it should be taken into account that the Administrative Court for this type of matters is organized for a substantially lesser amount of workload thus delaying the procedure. While the exploration permits are valid for the time being, the permits can be revoked without prior notice if the Court approves the appeals.
  • Among the under b) above mentioned appeals are the County Administrative Board in Skåne, which is a governmental body, as well as affected municipalities which means that this is not only a grassroot resistance but a political resistance that now also includes County Council Skåne which has the objective to put a stop to all exploration and mining activities in Skåne. They will work on both a regional and national level with this objective.
  • To our knowledge, all landowners so far have rejected all ScandiVanadium’s proposals for drilling on their respective properties. Furthermore, ScandiVanadium’s proposed work plan applications have been returned by the recipients with extensive but, with respect to the planned explorations, reasonable demands. We can find no trace of this information in ScandiVanadium’s shareholder updates.
  • The Municipality of Tomelilla, where most of the drilling is intended to take place, has a comprehensive plan for land use within the municipal borders stating that neither mineral exploration or mining should be allowed within the municipal borders.
  • ScandiVanadium correctly claims most of the targeted land is agricultural land, but the company fails to mention that agricultural land is stated to be of national interest by the Environmental Law (1998:808, Chapter 3, §4) and therefore may only be taken into use for essential purposes for the common good.

While we in vetoNu are not stating any wrongdoing on behalf of ScandiVanadium, we would like to inform ASX Compliance of the above-mentioned circumstances. All the information above is verifiable from open sources in Swedish, however we assume that this information is not readily available to Australian shareholders and investors who are non-Swedish speakers. As proponents of fairness and openness, we assume that this information may influence decisions of shareholders and investors and therefore could be of interest for ASX Compliance.