Gabriel Submits $5.7 billion Arbitration Claim against Romania
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TSX Trading Symbol: GBU
July 4, 2017
Gabriel Submits $5.7 billion Arbitration Claim against Romania
Further to its announcement of June 29, 2017, Gabriel Resources Ltd. (“Gabriel” or the “Company”) 1 confirms that
on June 30, 2017 it filed its statement of claim (the “Memorial”) against Romania before the World Bank's International
Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID"), in accordance with the provisions of the Canada -Romania
and UK-Romania bilateral investment treaties (together the “Treaties”). Gabriel seeks comp ensation for all of the
losses it has incurred as a result of Romania’s breaches of the Treaties in an amount equivalent to $5.7 billion2.
For information on this press release, please contact:
Jonathan Henry
President & Chief Executive Officer
Mobile: +44 7798 801783
Notes to Editors
The move to arbitration follows exhaustive and diligent efforts by Gabriel to comply with all Romanian legal requirements in respect
of the development of the Project s, complemented by the Company’s substantial contributions to the region’s social,
environmental and historic preservation needs. Since January 2015, Gabriel has sought amicable resolution of this dispute.
As a member of the World Bank and a party to the ICSID Convention , Romania is bound by the terms of Treaties. Romania’s
treatment of Gabriel and its investments has clearly breached its obligations set forth in the Treaties. The three-member tribunal
constituted to hear the ICSID arbitration claim against Romania (“ICSID Arbitration Claim”) will determine the liability of Romania
and any compensation due to Gabriel . The Memorial is subject to the confidentiality provisions of Procedural Order No.3 which
can be found on the ICSID website 3. Gabriel anticipates that the Memorial will be published in due course in accordance with
those provisions and the determination of the Tribunal as appropriate.
By failing to comply with its obligations, the Romanian Government has caused harm to Romania’s national economy. Romania
has sought, and badly needs, foreign direct investment. The Roșia Montană Project alone represented one of the largest proposed
foreign direct investments in Romania, with the potential to contribute US$24 billion 4 into the country’s economy. The Romanian
Government’s actions will likely be viewed with apprehension by prospective investors.
In addition to injecting badly needed economic stimulus into the poverty-stricken Apuseni region of Romania by providing crucially
needed, long -term jobs, the Project s, i f developed, were designed to help revive the area through desperately needed
environmental clean-up and infrastructure investment. The Apuseni region, in which Roșia Montană is situated, has suffered, and
continues to suffer, severe environmental degradation caused by historic and current State-owned mining operations. Through
the utilization of modern mining technologies and a commitment to invest significantly in remediating pollution left behind by the
State’s past unregulated mining operations , the Projects would have had a positive impact on the environment in and around
Roșia Montană . Gabriel has also spent and committed more funds for preservation of cultural heritage than the Romanian
Government has offered to this languishing region.
1 The Company, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Gabriel Resources (Jersey) Ltd. (“Gabriel Jersey”) are claimants in the arbitration claim. For
the purposes of this release both the Company and Gabriel Jersey are designated as “Gabriel” or the “Company”.
2 The claim, based on a damages assessment performed by an independent expert, seeks compensation in the amount of US$4.4 billion, the
Canadian dollar equivalent uses the closing foreign exchange rate on June 27.
3 https://icsid.worldbank.org/en/Pages/cases/casedetail.aspx?CaseNo=ARB/15/31
4 At an assumed gold price of US$1,200/oz
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About Gabriel
Gabriel is a Toronto Stock Exchange listed Canadian resource company. The Company’s principal focus has been the exploration and
development of the Roșia Montană Project. The Roșia Montană Project, one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in Europe, is
situated in the South Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania, Romania, an historic and prolific mining district that since pre-Roman times has
been mined intermittently for over 2,000 years. Th e exploitation license (“License”) for the Roșia Montană Project is held by Roșia
Montană Gold Corporation S.A., a Romanian company in which Gabriel owns an 80.69% equity interest, with the 19.31% balance he ld
by Minvest Roșia Montană S.A., a Romanian state-owned mining company. It was anticipated that the Roșia Montană Project could bring
over US$24 billion (at US$1,200/oz gold) to Romania as potential direct and indirect contribution to GDP and have generated thousands
of employment opportunities.
Since the grant of the License in June 1999, the Company has focused substantially all of its management and financial resour ces on
the exploration, feasibility and subsequent development of the Roșia Montană Project. Despite the Company’s fulfilment of it s legal
obligations and its development of the Roșia Montană Project as a high -quality, sustainable and environmentally -responsible mining
project, using best available techniques, Romania has blocked and prevented implementation of the Projects without due process and
without compensation. Accordingly, the Company’s current core focus is the ICSID Arbitration Claim.
For more information please visit the Company’s website at www.gabrielresources.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains “forward -looking information” (also referred to as “forward -looking statements”) within the meaning of
applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward -looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about
management’s current expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of the Company’s operating
environment. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements.
In this press release, forward -looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while
considered reasonable by the Company at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties
and contingencies that may cause the Company’s actual financial results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from
those expressed or implied herein. Some of the material factors or assumptions used to develop forward -looking statements include,
without limitation, the uncertainties associated with: the ICSID Arbitration Claim, actions by the Romanian Government, conditions or
events impacting the Company’s ability to fund its operations or service its debt, exploration, development and operation of mining
properties and the overall impact of misjudgments made in good faith in the course of preparing forward-looking information.
Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors including those set out below, that may neve r
materialize, prove incorrect or materialize other than as currently contemplated which could cause the Company’s results to d iffer
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with
respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (o ften, but not
always, identified by words or phrases such as “expects”, “is expected”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “plan s”, “projects”, “estimates”,
“assumes”, “intends”, “strategy”, “goals”, “objectives”, “potential”, “possible” or variations thereof or stating that certai n actions, events,
conditions or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “should”, “might” or “will” be taken , occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these
terms and similar expressions) are not statements of fact and may be forward-looking statements.
Numerous factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation:
• the duration, required disclosure, costs, process and outcome of the ICSID Arbitration Claim;
• changes in the liquidity and capital resources of Gabriel, and the group of companies of which it is parent (“Group”);
• access to funding to support the Group’s continued ICSID Arbitration Claim and/or operating activities in the future;
• equity dilution resulting from the conversion or exercise of existing securities in part or in whole to Common Shares;
• the ability of the Company to maintain a continued listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange or any regulated public market for trading
securities;
• the impact on business strategy and its implementation in Romania of: unforeseen historic acts of corruption, uncertain fisca l
investigations; uncertain legal enforcement both for and against the Group and political and social instability;
• regulatory, political and economic risks associated with operating in a foreign jurisdiction including changes in laws, gover nments
and legal regimes and interpretation of existing and future fiscal and other legislation ;
• volatility of currency exchange rates, metal prices and metal production;
• the availability and continued participation in operational or other matters pertaining to the Group of certa in key employees and
consultants; and
• risks normally incident to the exploration, development and operation of mining properties.
This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company’s forward-looking statements.
Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward -looking statements, and investors should not infer that there has been no
change in the Company’s affairs since the date of this press release that would warrant any modification of any forward-looking statement
made in this document, other documents periodically filed with or furnished to the relevant securities regulators or documents presented
on the Company’s website. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on
its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or
otherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of assumptions o r factors, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, subject to the Company’s disclosure obligations under applicable Canadian securities regulations. Investors
are urged to read the Company’s filings with Canadian securities regulatory agencies including Gabriel’s Annual Information Form for the
year ended December 31, 2016, which can be viewed online at www.sedar.com. ENDS