Qualified Person Sanctioned For Below Standard Conduct In Preparing Technical Reports

A professional geoscientist (the "Professional") agreed to a consent order with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC) in connection with his unprofessional conduct, incompetence or negligence in preparing technical reports for two issuers. Under the consent order, the Professional agreed to pay a fine of $15,000, plus $20,000 towards legal costs. He is also subject to a number of conditions on his APEGBC membership. The sanction signals a willingness on the part of securities regulators and professional organizations to hold their members and licensees accountable for below standard conduct. It is also significant that both issuers announced updated resource estimates in respect of the projects and the filing of, or intention to file, technical reports documenting the new resource estimates, in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").