TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Eighth Civil Circuit Court of the City of Bucaramanga, in Colombia, has rejected, with costs, legal proceedings filed by Sociedad Mina Los Diamantes and Crisanto Peña Gelvez against Toronto-listed Eco Oro Minerals in February.

Eco Oro said the claimants were seeking the annulment of an assignment and sale agreement entered into in 1994 by the claimants and the company, through which Eco Oro acquired mining permit 3452 from the claimants, who retained net profits royalties.

The permit, covering an area of 250 ha, was converted into integrated concession contract 3452, covering an area of 5 254 ha, by the Colombian government and registered in the National Mining Register in 2007.

The original area of the permit, however, covers a significant portion of the company's flagship Angostura deposit. The concession, which incorporated the permit and several other mineral tenures, was fully registered in the name of the company.

The judge concluded that the agreement had a valid and enforceable arbitration provision, which required all disputes or differences concerning the performance of the agreement to be resolved by arbitration.

As a result, the judge decided to reject the legal proceedings due to a lack of jurisdiction and ordered costs and damages to be paid by the claimants.

Eco Oro was focused on its wholly owned, multimillion-ounce Angostura gold/silver deposit, located in north-eastern Colombia, for over 15 years, during which it had invested over $200-million in the project's development and in that of the surrounding communities.

Earlier in January, the company almost lost its project with the establishment of a new national park in the region in which the Angostura project is located.

Environment authorities declared plans to create a wilderness park and prohibit mining in a region rich in gold and silver where the Canada-based company hopes to produce precious metals.

Eco Oro said an initial assessment of the approved coordinates of the park in the north-west of Colombia would not impede development of the Angostura project. The company said the Corporación Autónoma Regional para la Defensa de la Meseta de Bucaramanga has now approved the coordinates of the Regional Park of Santurbán and the officially declared boundaries did not impede development of the Angostura project.

The company’s TSX-listed stock gained 4.21% in value at 99 Canadian cents apiece on Wednesday.