Liberals dig up dirt on sand company CEO

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This article was published 24/09/2020 (1686 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Liberals last week stepped up their criticism of a planned silica sand operation near Anola, noting the company behind the proposal is helmed by a man whose prior venture ran afoul of stock market regulators in Alberta.

Feisal Somji, CEO of Calgary-based CanWhite Sands Corp., was named in a January 2019 limited cease trade order from the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC), the Liberals noted in a Sept. 15 release.

At the time, Somji was CEO of a company called Prize Mining Corp. that, according to the ASC, “breached Alberta securities laws, and acted contrary to the public interest, by making misrepresentations and failing to comply with its continuous disclosure obligations.”

The watchdog’s attention was aroused by a July 2018 deal between Prize and the consulting firm BridgeMark Group in which $6.5 million worth of new shares was issued in exchange for $5.5 million in consulting services.

The ASC found Prize misconstrued the deal to investors and ordered the company to issue a press release admitting that the bulk of the deal was returned in the form of consulting agreements.

In an emailed statement sent through a spokesperson, CanWhite’s chief operating officer, Brent Bullen, disputed the Liberals’ characterization of the proceedings between his boss and the Alberta regulator.

The ASC’s ruling was an interim variation, not a final order, Bullen advised.

“This interim variation order made no finding whatsoever regarding the conduct of Mr. Somji. Mr. Somji was never the specific subject of a cease trade order, or any form of order, in these proceedings,” Bullen stated.

“Prize so issued the release and the cease trade order has long since expired. Mr. Somji was not even part of Prize at that time. There was no finding of any kind that Mr. Somji breached Alberta securities laws, or that he was even specifically involved in the transaction of Prize Mining (at) issue.”

CanWhite is seeking a licence under the Manitoba Environment Act to extract and process silica sand on privately-owned property near Vivian, in the RM of Springfield. The company’s application is still under review.

Citizen groups opposed to the project have argued that extracting the sand from 200 feet underground will cause irreparable damage to the aquifer that supplies the Southeast with drinking water.

Last month, the Liberals backed a call for the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission to convene public hearings and study the project.

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said last week the Prize scandal in Alberta is proof the Manitoba government isn’t vetting resource projects thoroughly.

“It would very helpful if we could ask questions about these charges and schemes in B.C. and Alberta before the Vivian Sands project goes any further,” he said.