chameleon in change of tone after asx note

Chameleon in change of tone after ASX note

THE folks at Chameleon Mining must be on a first-name basis with the supervision staff at the Australian Securities Exchange by now.

Less than a week after the ASX took the tiddler miner to task over its inappropriate Christmas present of 10 million options to its newest director, former rugby league player Benny Elias, it has found cause to raise a few more questions.

The catalyst of this latest exchange between the pair happens to be one of this week's City Beat snippets about Chameleon's former legal adviser chasing it for unpaid fees.

It seems that the ASX, whose job is to ensure that listed companies maintain a certain standard of disclosure, had been unaware that law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell had issued Chameleon with a statutory demand for a six-figure debt.

In a note to the miner, the ASX wanted to know why the subject of the statutory demand, which was issued on November 6, hadn't been disclosed.

Chameleon, which is involved in a costly legal battle with Murchison Metals over access to its iron ore projects, appeared rather nonplussed about the query, claiming that it did not previously disclose the demand as it did not believe it to be material to its share price.

"The company immediately took legal advice upon receipt of the statutory demand and was satisfied that we could successfully apply to have it set aside," Chameleon responded in a missive that was made public yesterday.

"Further, the company fully expects that Atanaskovic Hartnell will formally withdraw the statutory demand in accordance with earlier verbal undertakings provided by a partner of the firm."

Well, isn't that a generous change of heart. And just as well given Chameleon, which churned through $200,000 last quarter, had just $135,000 cash in the bank at the end of September.

Chameleon has since hired Piper Alderman to handle the case, but Tony Hartnell's firm is refusing to hand over the files until the bill is paid.