Embattled Australian mining company Greywolf Resources - which has pulled out of exploration plans in New Zealand - has rejected allegations of fraud attached to its permit applications, at present being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
Greywolf, which since December last year touted a Chinese joint venture partner who was prepared to pour billions of investment dollars into numerous large projects around the country, has come under a hail of fire during the past fortnight; with its financial position being questioned and also the intent of mining in or around national parks.
Legal adviser for Greywolf, Peter Nagle, claimed Greywolf had been the target in New Zealand of "unrelenting and unwarranted" media and social network "attacks", containing "speculation and innuendo ... witch-hunts".
"It [Greywolf] was not trying to be a huge corporation, but it had a belief that it could bring to communities its vision for the mineral exploration programmes and thereby bring economic growth to often depressed areas," he said.
Mr Nagle said following applications for mining permits near Golden Bay, at the top of the South Island, the "media attacks" were "unwarranted".
"Environmental concerns are a normal part of the process of mineral exploration and local groups have pressed their opposition through the media, and we accept this as a legitimate action," Mr Nagle said in a statement yesterday.
Greywolf pulled its application to explore in Golden Bay and Abel Tasman, after environmental concerns were raised locally, but New Zealand Government permitting agency, Crown Minerals, subsequently rejected the applications anyway because of "deficiencies" in the financial information provided.
Mr Nagle claimed that after the Golden Bay issue was aired publicly, the media then shifted to "minor clerical inconsistencies" on applications by Greywolf made to Crown Minerals several months ago.
"The inconsistencies were trivial and have been addressed. Greywolf strongly refutes any allegations of dishonesty with these mining applications," Mr Nagle said.
He said Greywolf was "surprised to discover" through the media that Crown Minerals, via the Ministry of Economic Development, had passed these "clerical inconsistencies" to the SFO.
When announcing the investigation a week ago, the SFO said it was looking at Greywolf's applications for three petroleum and seven mineral exploration permits around the country, saying "it appears that false statements may have been made in support of these applications".
If there was found to be false information, it would then try to determine who was responsible for making the statements, the SFO said.
Mr Nagle said yesterday, "Greywolf communicated with the SFO and is confident that it has done nothing wrong.
"The clerical error caused no loss or detriment to anyone concerned, and would not have resulted in any change to the decision of the Crown Minerals department," he said, blaming the "enormous weight of media attack" for last week's resignation of Greywolf's New Zealand executive John Rutherford, and also because of the "withdrawal of projects by Greywolf from New Zealand".
It was understood Greywolf was concentrating on going ahead with plans, announced last year, for an up to $200 million float on the Australian stock exchange.
