Small-cap explorer Australian Mines will have to pay a $450,000 penalty for breaching its continuous disclosure obligations on three occasions.
Australian Mines had sought an early resolution to proceedings brought by ASIC and admitted it failed to disclose material information to the market in February 2018.
The group had failed to disclose that its term sheet for an offtake agreement with SK Innovation to purchase the expected cobalt and nickel product from its Sconi project included a 15 per cent buyer's discount subject to a share acquisition.
False claims were also made by managing director Benjamin Bell at oversees conferences in Hong Kong and London about securing funding from SK Innovation for construction of a $500,000 facility at Sconi. He also failed to disclose the true value of the offtake deal when he told investors it was worth $5bn, despite the discounting arrangement.
Australian Mines will also contribute to ASIC's legal costs and action against Mr Bell are ongoing.
