Explorer Cougar Metals has declared war on its partner in a Brazilian gold venture, suing fellow Perth company Ashburton Minerals over slow progress at the Pocone gold tailings project.
Cougar, which in February acquired a free-carried 25 per cent stake in Pocone for $200,000, said on Friday it had served a writ on Ashburton in the WA Supreme Court seeking damages and "specific performance" of Ashburton's joint venture obligations.
Cougar said it had a number of concerns about Ashburton's efforts to achieve the joint venture's objectives in an "efficient and timely manner", and its ability to "adequately fund" the venture.
It also said it was concerned about Ashburton's obligations to provide "material information to Cougar", including English translations of legal documents signed on the joint venture's behalf, and explanations of its estimates of tailings sand volumes on the Pocone leases.
Ashburton acquired a 75 per cent stake in the venture last year, and said in October the deal would give it access to old tailings dams estimated to contain at least 60 million tonnes of material grading up to 1.8 grams per tonne gold.
Ashburton did not issue any reply on Friday and could not be reached for comment yesterday.
However, managing director Tom Dukovcic on Tuesday told WestBusiness it was too early to comment on the accuracy of tailings estimates, which had been based on Landsat imagery and information provided by its Brazilian agent.
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