ASIC, AFP raid Reefton homesJesse RiseboroughTuesday, September...

ASIC, AFP raid Reefton homes


Jesse Riseborough


Tuesday, September 13, 2005
THE fortunes of Perth-based Reefton Mining have sunk to new lows after the company revealed it was now the subject of both an ASIC and Australian Federal Police investigation with homes of "officers and former officers of the company" raided today as part of the inquiry.

"Reefton Mining wishes to advise that the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission have today executed search warrants on the premises of the company and the homes of several officers and former officers of the company," Reefton said in announcement to the ASX late this afternoon.

MiningNews.net was unable to contact Reefton chairman Bradley Moore, but the company said in the statement that it believed it had not contravened the Corporations Act as alleged by ASIC.

ASIC spokeswoman Danielle Huck was only able to confirm to MiningNews.net that Reefton Mining was the subject of an ongoing investigation and said ASIC was unable to make any comment.

Reefton said the sections of the Act alleged to have been contravened are 674, 1041E and 1043A.

Section 674 pertains to continuous disclosure and in particular deals with the requirement that listed entities disclose information "that a reasonable person would expect, if it were generally available, to have a material affect on the price of value of ED securities."

Section 1041E relates to "false or misleading statements" and 1043A pertains to "prohibited conduct by person in possession of inside information."

"The company has taken legal advice," Reefton said. "This indicates that on the information available to the company, there has been no contravention by the company of any of the sections of the Corporations Act listed above."

The fortunes of Reefton Mining first began to turn sour when the company's exploration licences covering its Erongo project in Namibia were initially not renewed back in April. Weeks prior to this announcement, the company said it had uncovered uranium mineralisation at Erongo, sending the share price soaring.

On March 31, the company said it had completed sampling work at Erongo and intended to drill the ground. The same day managing director Vladimir Nikolaenko sold more than 3 million shares in the company on market, worth $379,000, at an average of 11.3c per share.

The following day Nikolaenko resigned from the company, four days prior to the news that exploration licences at Erongo had not been renewed.

Around three weeks later the company's chief executive officer Simon Gilbert also resigned as the company continued to wait for the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) to renew of the licence.

Reefton then completed a $3 million placement at 6c on June 20 and then a second placement to raise $240,000 at 6.5c in July. It was then on July 21 that the company revealed that its application for the inclusion of nuclear fuels into the exploration licence had been unsuccessful.

Less than two weeks later the company's UK nominated adviser and stockbroker for its AIM listing resigned, and the company's listing was cancelled when a new nominated adviser was not appointed. The following day the company advised the market of the reasons behind MME's decision to exclude nuclear fuels from the Erongo licence, including an allegation that its March 18 announcement regarding a uranium discovery was incorrect.

ps: I don't hold it atm.....