JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has granted Toronto- and Hong Kong-listed coal producer SouthGobi Resources leave to appeal the court’s decision, in November, granting Canadian law firm Siskinds permission to claim damages against SouthGobi under the Ontario Securities Act.
In January 2014, Siskinds had filed a proposed securities class action against SouthGobi, certain of its current and former senior officers and directors, as well as former auditors, regarding SouthGobi’s restatement of financial statements at the end of 2013.
At the time, the Mongolia-focused coal miner said it would restate its financial results from 2011 to 2013, owing to a change in the point of revenue recognition at its Ovoot Tolgoi mine. The company, owned by global mining giant Rio Tinto through Turquoise Hill Resources, issued restated consolidated financial statements reflecting a change in the point of revenue recognition from delivering coal to the customer stockpiles within its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi mine’s stockyard, to the moment the coal is loaded onto the customers' trucks when collected.
The Ovoot Tolgoi mine neighbours China and mainly sells coal to customers in China.
Having now been given leave to appeal the November ruling, SouthGobi would proceed to appeal the original decision, which would likely be heard by the appellate court later this year.