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Clarification of the Status of Almaden’s Ixtaca Project Mineral Claims
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission, Almaden Minerals Ltd. (“Al
About this update from Almaden Minerals Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":" VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission, Almaden Minerals Ltd. (“Almaden” or the “Company”; TSX: AMM; NYSE American: AAU) is clarifying its disclosure regarding its mineral claims to the Ixtaca Project. In its April 15, 2019 news release, the Company disclosed that: it had previously cancelled its original concessions over the Ixtaca Project (the “Original Concessions”), and replaced them with new concessions covering a smaller area (the “New Concessions”); and the Original Concessions are subject to legal proceedings (the “Amparo”) in which a lower court has found Mexico’s mineral title system unconstitutional, but the New Concessions are not subject to the Amparo. Almaden would like to clarify that: In 2017, the Ejido Tecoltemi, the complainant in the Amparo, filed a legal complaint about the order leading to the New Concessions; On February 1, 2018, the court reviewing the complaint ruled the Ejido’s complaint was founded, and sent the ruling to the court hearing the Amparo; On December 21, 2018, the General Directorate of Mines issued a resolution that the New Concessions are left without effect, and the Original Concessions are in full force and effect (the “December Communication”); On February 13, 2019, the General Directorate of Mines delivered, to the court hearing the Amparo, mining certificates stating that the Original Concessions are valid, and the New Concessions are cancelled; On June 10, 2019, Almaden’s subsidiary appealed the December Communication, and subsequent cancellation of the New Concessions; On September 26, 2019, the lower court refused to hear the appeal; and On October 14, 2019, a higher court agreed to hear the appeal. As a result, the Original Concessions are currently Almaden’s sole mineral claims to the Ixtaca Project. Those claims are subject to the Amparo. Although the Company is challenging this change to its mineral tenure, the Original Concessions provide Almaden with the same exploration and mining rights over the Company’s Ixtaca Project as the New Concessions did, with the exception that Almaden may not access the surface land of the Ejido (330 hectares, an area which the Company had dropped from the New Concessions) (the “Ejido Lands”). It is important to note that under Mexican law, any decisio...