BENNY Elias is in for one of the toughest but potentially most lucrative battles of his life today as he and fellow directors of Chameleon Mining lay claim to much of Murchison Metal's mining sites at Jack Hills and Weld Range, valued at an estimated $2.5 billion.
The mediation process begins today in Sydney when the two companies sit down to try and thrash out a settlement for two separate but linked cases.
Chameleon's case centres around the alleged use of Chameleon funds and shares to acquire the Jack Hills and Weld Range mining leases, while the other case, put by former Chameleon directors Siew Hong Koh and David Evans, essentially says that Murchison owes them a 5 per cent direct interest in the two mining assets.
Fantastic as the claims may seem, they go back to a time when they say Murchison was struggling to raise money to buy their now hugely valuable mining leases.
Chameleon has been preparing its case for over a year and while its directors say Murchison has been trying to "exhaust us out of funds", the mining minnow could be in line for a payout of hundreds of millions of dollars if successful.
If the matter gets to court, legal experts say that there is a better than 50 per cent chance that the tiny company will receive a substantial payout.
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