22 June 2022 Sundance Pre-Action Discovery Application & Appeal Discontinuance AustSino Resources Group Ltd (AustSino or the Company) refers to its market announcement dated 14 April 2022 regarding the Sundance pre-action discovery application, and its subsequent announcement dated 9 May 2022 relating to the appeal against orders made for pre-action discovery in that application. Since the appeal was instituted on 6 May 20221 , the Company continued to engage with its external legal advisers regarding the appeal, the appeal’s forensic and legal benefit to the Company and the Company’s shareholders, and the weighing up of the benefits and the costs of the appeal against all relevant legal and commercial factors. Further, in this period, the Company and its external legal advisers have undertaken considered legal analysis of the Supreme Court of Western Australia’s decision published 31 March 2022 As a result of this detailed analysis, the Company has now discontinued its appeal against the pre-action discovery orders made in the Sundance Pre-Action Discovery Application. Importantly, this decision was made, noting (among other things): 1 Under Australian law, any party may attempt to seek access to certain documents under a pre-action discovery action. Sundance only had to prove in the Sundance Pre-Action Discovery Application that it may have causes of action against the Company and/or, was only required to prove above the level of suspicion, assertion, and/or conjecture that those causes of action may exist. This is a very low legal threshold. 2 The Sundance Pre-Action Discovery Application is not a claim against the Company or its chairman Mr Ding; nor does it establish or prove any claim against the Company or Mr Ding. 3 The Company and chairman Mr Ding consider, and maintain, they have nothing to hide and have not done anything wrong. 4 As a result of the court proceedings, the number of documents required to be provided to Sundance by the Company and Mr Ding has now been reduced. 1 As advised in the Company’s announcement dated 9 May 2022
The Company and Mr Ding are entitled to be reimbursed by Sundance for their reasonable legal costs incurred in defending the Pre-Action Discovery Application, and their reasonable legal costs of complying with the pre-action discovery orders. The Company and Mr Ding will continue to take all prudent and reasonable advice on this matter. The Board will continue to keep shareholders updated of any material developments on this matter.
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