Recently-listed miner Chameleon Mining is facing a winding-up motion over a $200,000 debt claimed by a former consultant.
However, that consultant, Robert McLennan, is also facing a legal claim from Chameleon for about $2 million.
Rupert Company Limited, a company associated with Mr McLennan has applied to have Chameleon wound up over a disputed $200,000 debt for mining tenements Mr McLennan sold to the company.
Mr McLennan’s contract relationship with Chameleon was terminated in March. Some of those tenements were used for the company’s listing.
In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Chameleon said it was seeking “damages and other orders pursuant to the Trade Practices Act” against Mr McLennan.
Chameleon managing director Greg Barnes said its claim against Mr McLennan was far greater than the claim he had against Chameleon.
He would not specify the amount Chameleon was seeking other than to say it was about 10 times what Mr McLennan was claiming.
Mr Barnes said the company had received telephone calls from a number of concerned shareholders informing it that a notice of application to wind up the company had appeared on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission website.
He said those phone calls had coincided with volatility in Chameleon’s share price, which led to the company calling a trading halt.
However, Mr Barnes admitted the company should have dealt with Mr McLennan’s claim before it proceeded to the winding up notice stage.
Ian Mitchell, a consultant at Webster O’Hallorhan, the firm representing Mr McLennan in the dispute, said Rupert Company’s statutory demand over the amount had been disputed in the Federal Court.
“However, the Federal Court dismissed the dispute with the consent of Chameleon,” he said.
