Colorado Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:CXO) ("Colorado" or
the "Company") today filed and mailed to shareholders its
management information circular for the annual general meeting of
shareholders scheduled for Tuesday, April 17, 2018. The Colorado
Board of Directors strongly recommends that shareholders vote on
the
BLUE proxy card “FOR” all five of Colorado’s
qualified and experienced director nominees including incumbent
directors Lawrence J. Nagy and William F. Lindqvist and nominees
Robert P. Shaw, Cecil R. Bond and Gernot Wober.
In conjunction with the proxy filing, Colorado
is mailing a letter to shareholders detailing the accomplishments
achieved under the leadership of the existing Colorado Board and
outlining their plan to increase long-term value for all
shareholders. The letter also addresses former CEO Adam
Travis’ high-risk agenda to reconstitute the Board with his
handpicked nominees and spotlights his track record of using
Colorado resources for his own personal benefit.
On March 15, 2018, Colorado commenced a civil
claim against Travis and his company Cazador Resources Ltd. as an
initial step in recovering funds improperly billed to Colorado
during Travis’ tenure as Colorado’s CEO. The Notice of Civil
Claim also alleges that Travis and Cazador breached duties owed to
Colorado by acquiring mineral properties in B.C.’s Golden Triangle
in competition with Colorado while Travis was a director of
Colorado and without first disclosing and offering those
opportunities to Colorado.
Shareholders are urged to vote the BLUE proxy
form or BLUE voting instruction form for
Colorado’s five director nominees before 10:00 a.m. (PDT) on
Friday, April 13, 2018. If you have questions or need help
voting, contact Kingsdale Advisors at 1-800-775-3159 or at
contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com. The full circular is available at
the Company's issuer profile at www.sedar.com. A copy of the letter
to shareholders is also included below. Letter to the shareholders
of Colorado Resources Ltd.
Dear Fellow Shareholder:
Your Colorado Resources investment is at risk.
Your Board of Directors uncovered evidence of
what it believes to be a scheme by former CEO Adam Travis to rig a
series of business deals to benefit himself, at the expense of
Colorado Resources, and misappropriate and pocket thousands of
shareholder dollars.
Once our Board discovered that Travis had his hand in your
cookie jar, we took action to terminate him.
We have also launched a court action, on behalf
of all Colorado shareholders, against Travis to recover any funds
that he may have misappropriated and claims for damages he has
caused in the Company’s business dealings.
Now, out of animosity, he has launched an
expensive and time-consuming proxy fight to take over Colorado
Resources’ Board without disclosing his plan or agenda.
Do not be fooled—Travis wants a Board that will allow him to
keep treating your Colorado Resources as his own.
While Travis will tell you he is a shareholder
and his interests are aligned with yours, the facts tell a
different story: Approximately half of his shares were from related
party transactions with his company Cazador Resources and
preferential treatment given to his wife to participate in private
placements. The value Travis sees in Colorado is not in the shares
he owns, but in the opportunity he sees to drain the Company’s bank
account.
Only your vote can stop him and protect your Colorado
investment. Voting is now open. It is important you vote only the
Company’s BLUE Proxy by Friday, April 13, 2018 at
10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time).
Our Board is moving forward. Travis was
replaced in February with a highly regarded CEO —
who has extensive industry experience throughout the
Americas — and we are refreshing our Board,
proposing five world-class nominees who bring diverse skill sets
and experience in developing successful resource-focused
companies.
The choice is clear: Only Colorado’s proposed
Board of Directors, including our new independent and highly
qualified nominees, are aligned with your interests and have a real
plan to create long-term value for all shareholders. Travis is only
looking to regain access to Colorado’s bank account by putting his
handpicked nominees on the Board.
Do you trust someone Travis picked to say no to Travis?
SELF-SERVING BUSINESS DEALINGS TO BENEFIT HIMSELF, NOT
COLORADO SHAREHOLDERS
In his role as CEO, Travis demonstrated a
pattern of looking out for himself, not you. Time and time again,
he made the decision to put his personal interests first.
Bought Property Neighbouring Colorado Holdings, Then
Tried to Sell it to Colorado
Until 2013, Travis was the owner of a 25%
interest in the Gin Property – located next to Colorado’s North ROK
property. In mid-2013, after we drilled and assayed a
discovery hole at North ROK – ahead of a $4 million exploration
program – Travis purchased the remaining 75% interest in the Gin
property for himself for $13,500 without telling the Board.
Not only was this a property that would have been of interest to
Colorado at the time, but Travis acquired it for his own personal
benefit when, as CEO, he had intimate knowledge of what we had
planned for our neighbouring property – including knowledge about
things that had not yet been made public.
What’s even more shocking is that Travis later
actively promoted the Gin property to other parties, without
advising Colorado. And then, after four years of trying to
sell the property, Travis finally offered it to Colorado for
shares, cash, and a reimbursement of his expenses.
Competing with Colorado
Over the past several years, Colorado’s focus
has been on the acquisition of targets in the Golden Triangle
region of northwestern British Columbia. It’s also been a
focus for Travis: It’s come to our attention, that Travis has been
actively staking his own ground in the same region in direct
competition with Colorado while never advising the Board.
That’s right – the CEO of our company was directly competing
with your company.
TRAVIS WAS USING COLORADO RESOURCES AS HIS PERSONAL
PIGGY BANK
After a series of questions about Travis’ secret
spending were first raised last November, the Board hired an
independent third-party to investigate his financial indiscretions
as CEO.
Unfortunately, we uncovered unsettling instances
of Travis treating Colorado as though it was a welfare fund for his
family and his businesses, rather than a public company accountable
to its shareholders.
While you can see a more detailed account of
Travis’ expense to Colorado following this letter, here are just
some of the ways Travis has cost you money:
Travis Had Son Conduct Costly and Amateurish Drone
Survey
Last summer, without alerting the Board and
without any contract, Travis decided to use his own company,
Cazador, to conduct drone survey work on Colorado properties. For
over two weeks (16.5 days) of drone work, Cazador charged Colorado
$500/day as a rental fee for Travis’ toy drone.
To make matters even worse, rather than having
the survey work conducted by experienced professionals and industry
standard equipment, Travis used his son (who doesn’t have a
geological background or expertise in drone control) to operate the
hobby-quality drone, charging Colorado an additional $500/day for
his labour — a huge ‘allowance’ by any measure. On one
weekend during the drone survey, Travis even hired his son’s
girlfriend and another friend and passed that cost onto Colorado as
well.
Family on the Payroll
Travis’ two daughters, son, two step-sons and
son-in-law have all been employed by or billed out to Colorado at
rates equivalent to what experienced personnel would be charging.
So, not only was Colorado getting inexperienced family labour, we
were overpaying for it.
Moreover, during field seasons, Colorado paid
Travis’ wife a total of $22,485 (approx. $2,500/month) for
“equipment rental”.
Colorado’s Truck for Family Business
Travis was also in possession of Colorado’s
exploration truck and trailer which have been used for his Cazador
business and by the Travis family – to no benefit of Colorado
shareholders.
Footing the Bill for Expenses on Travis’ Personal
Properties
In May and June 2017, while conducting initial
soil sampling on our North ROK property, Travis asked Colorado
personnel to include samples outside of North ROK from the Gin
property – the property that was later learned was owned by Travis.
In other words, Travis had soil sampling done on his own personal
property and charged Colorado for the work – until he was
caught.
We have also learned that Travis has previously
directed Colorado personnel and resources to complete assessment
work on his Cazador property holdings.
If you think Travis’ behavior is bad with a
Board that is willing to hold him accountable, just imagine what he
will do with a Board of friends he handpicks!
A BETTER COLORADO STARTS WITH A BETTER CEO AND A BOARD
YOU CAN TRUST
In recent months, our Board has been laying the
groundwork for Colorado to take the next step and improve the
performance of your investment. We have a solid base to build upon
including a strong cash position and an enviable land package
within the Golden Triangle region of northwestern British Columbia
with high mineral potential that represents a significant
opportunity for the future.
In February, when we terminated Travis as our
President and CEO, replacing him with Robert P. Shaw. Mr. Shaw has
over 30 years of experience in mineral exploration, project
evaluation and project generation throughout the Americas and is
well regarded by our large shareholders.
By removing Travis, we have eliminated the waste
and restored accountability at our executive ranks.
Ms. Terese Gieselman, our Chief Financial
Officer, has also agreed to step down from the Board to focus all
her efforts on her CFO role during this time of opportunity for the
Company.
We’re also continuing our Board refreshment
process at the Company by nominating Mr. Shaw alongside new
independent directors at the upcoming meeting to join our
Board:
- Gernot Wober, B.Sc., P.Geo, has 28 years
exploration and development experience including working on
projects in North America, South America and Africa. He is
currently the Vice President, Exploration, Canada at Osisko Mining
Inc.
- Cecil Bond, a chartered accountant with 15
years’ experience with public mineral exploration companies with
activities in Canada, South America, Africa, Europe and
Australia.
Our new CEO and Board represent an exciting
opportunity for Colorado moving forward.
Under a leadership that is accountable to you
and aligned with your interests, we will execute our plan to
increase value for all shareholders. Our plan includes:
- Consolidating the abundant technical information available to
the Company to identify the best targets available within our
portfolio.
- Testing our advanced-stage targets, bringing them to a
qualified resource stage while divesting of assets that don’t meet
our Company’s target criteria.
- Actively seeking synergies and opportunities with other
companies and mineral rights holders, with quality land tenure
throughout B.C. with a view towards corporate growth through
partnerships, third-party acquisition, merger or amalgamation.
- Developing our technical and corporate teams through education
and corporate growth while identifying new talent to augment the
Company’s capacity to grow.
- Initiating a project review and acquisition strategy throughout
the Americas in order to identify growth opportunities taking
advantage of the international experience of our new Board and
management team.
- Providing accurate and timely information to shareholders,
stakeholders and the general public, about technical project
advances and QP-verified results.
DON’T BE FOOLED BY ADAM TRAVIS
The Truth About the Damara Gold Corp.
Transaction
In his letter dated, March 12, 2018, Travis
provides a misleading and far from fulsome account of what occurred
in relation to the Damara transaction. Travis is entitled to his
own opinion, but not his own set of facts. Here’s what really
happened:
In early 2017, Colorado entered into a
negotiation for a possible transaction with Damara Gold Corp. – a
related party of which Colorado owned 19.9% of the shares (we now
own 15.96%) – to option our Kinaskan-Castle Property.
This was a good deal for Colorado shareholders:
Damara would undertake an $8 million exploration program on the
property; Colorado would retain a back-in option to earn back 51%
and control of the Kinaskan-Castle Property by matching Damara’s
exploration costs. The deal was a win-win especially since Colorado
shareholders also would benefit from any increase in the share
value of Damara given our share position.
At no point during the negotiations, did Travis
express that a sale or bid process was needed. In fact, the only
process Travis insisted upon was one where he alone would determine
what was the in the best interest of Colorado.
Throughout this process, our Board complied with
all statutory and regulatory requirements, complied with the
Company’s Code of Business Conduct, and acted in accordance with
the legal advice provided in relation to the transaction. I, as
Executive Chairman and Director, even suggested that we have an
independent evaluator appointed to draft an agreement that was
acceptable to all. Travis ignored this suggestion and instead made
the unilateral decision that the Kinaskan-Castle Property was no
longer available for option. Notwithstanding his decision, he
continued marketing the property to third parties without our
knowledge. It is notable that despite Travis’ marketing of
the property, no deal ever materialized.
The Truth About the TSX-V and British Columbia
Securities Commission Interactions
In his letter, Travis falsely claims that the
Damara deal was cancelled, in part, due to questions by the TSX
Venture Exchange and British Columbia Securities Commission.
What Travis fails to mention, is that questions
from the regulators were prompted by frivolous complaints made by
three of his associates: a close personal friend who is also a paid
consultant to Colorado, a business partner of Travis’ who is
working with him to take control of the Board, and an associate of
Travis who represented a minor shareholder. His associations with
these individuals is further evidenced by the fact that the
complainants attempted to offer the regulators information that was
only available to Travis and our Board.
In any case, the queries from the regulators
have been resolved and no action has been taken against the
company.
ADAM TRAVIS WANTS MORE OF YOUR MONEY
In his March 12 letter — the letter where he
claims to be fighting for shareholders — Travis notes that he “may
seek reimbursement from the Corporation of certain of the expenses,
including certain proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees” upon
Board approval – a Board he wants to handpick.
Not only has Travis initiated this expensive
proxy fight, he now wants you to reimburse him for his hundreds of
thousands of dollars in consultant fees. He’s using your money to
take over your company so he can use it for his own benefit.
While Travis contends that he wants change, all
he wants is unchallenged access to Colorado’s bank account and the
ability to use Colorado’s resources to bankroll his Cazador. By
nominating four handpicked individuals to serve with him on the
Company’s Board, he is attempting to ensure there is no one in his
way. To make matters worse, each of the nominees he has
chosen has generated negative total shareholder returns during
their tenure as a director or executive of a public company,
meaning they have no business running a company with opportunities
like ours.
Only the current Board has shown the willingness
to say no to Travis’ abuse of shareholder dollars and hold him
accountable for his actions.
If Travis is able to get the Board he wants, who
knows what will happen with your investment. Only your vote can
stop Travis’ attempt to take over the Company and protect your
investment.
Your Board is committed to acting in the best
interests of all Colorado shareholders. We are now well-positioned
to efficiently advance projects, deliver higher growth and, in
return, higher value.
Together with our new CEO, our Board will lead
the change that Colorado needs. We strongly believe that we have
the right people and the right strategy to continue to build value
for you, our shareholders.
YOUR VOTE CAN SAVE YOUR INVESTMENT
Voting is now open. Only your vote can save your
investment, and move Colorado forward, no matter how many shares
you own. To vote FOR your management nominees, vote on the
Company’s BLUE Proxy or Voting Instruction
Form.
Do not vote the Yellow Proxy or Voting
Instruction Form sent to you by Adam Travis.
Becoming a voter is fast and easy. Follow the
instructions on the BLUE Proxy or Voting
Information Form included in this package. Our chart on page 4 has
easy to follow instructions.
Don’t wait. The last day
to vote is Friday, April 13, 2018 at 10:00 am (PDT).
If you have questions or need help voting
contact Kingsdale Advisors at 1-800-775-3159 or
contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com. There is a team standing by to
help.
Sincerely,
“Lawrence J.
Nagy”____________________________Lawrence
J. NagyChairman of the
BoardAbout Colorado Colorado
Resources Ltd. is currently engaged in the business of mineral
exploration for the purpose of acquiring and advancing mineral
properties located in the “Golden Triangle” British Columbia and
holds approximately 1,200sq km of mineral claims in this prolific
metalliferous region. The Company’s main exploration projects
within British Columbia include KSP and North ROK. Additionally,
the Company holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Green
Springs project located in eastern Nevada.
Contact:Kingsdale AdvisorsIan Robertson, 416-867-2333Executive
Vice President, Communication
Strategyirobertson@kingsdaleadvisors.comCell: 647-621-2646
or
Shareholders:Kingsdale AdvisorsToll free:
1-800-775-3159contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Certain statements contained in this news release, constitute
“forward-looking information” as such term is used in applicable
Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is based on
plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the
information is provided and is subject to certain factors and
assumptions, including: that the Company’s financial condition and
development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events,
that the Company obtains required regulatory approvals, that the
Company continues to maintain a good relationship with the local
project communities. Forward-looking information is subject to a
variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could
cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from
those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that
could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to
change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the
risk that any of the assumptions referred to prove not to be valid
or reliable, which could result in delays, or cessation in planned
work, that the Company’s financial condition and development plans
change, delays in regulatory approval, risks associated with the
interpretation of data, the geology, grade and continuity of
mineral deposits, the possibility that results will not be
consistent with the Company’s expectations, as well as the other
risks and uncertainties applicable to mineral exploration and
development activities and to the Company as set forth in the
Company’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis reports filed under
the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance
that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not
place any undue reliance on forward-looking information or
statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update
forward-looking information or statements, other than as required
by applicable law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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