The B.C. Securities Commission has scheduled a hearing for January to explore allegations against a mineral exploration company with ties to a Victoria-based geoscientist.
The commission alleges James Arthur Robert Voisin, former president and CEO of First Mexican Gold Corp., committed insider trading, and that Voisin and geoscientist John Charles Archibald made false or misleading statements.
None of the allegations has been proven in court.
In its notice of hearing, the commission said Voisin committed insider trading by selling shares in the company before updated mineral information about the land had been disclosed.
It also alleged Archibald made misleading statements about his qualifications to prepare technical reports and about the preparation of a technical report for First Mexican.
The commission said Archibald had no experience calculating or estimating mineral resources and included in the report an engineer’s initial estimate without that person’s knowledge.
That initial estimate was supposed to be a quick, non-compliant overview of the gold and silver resources on the property that could not be used publicly.
The commission alleges that by filing the report including the initial, non-compliant estimate, First Mexican and Voisin provided information that was materially misleading in a record it was required to file.
The main asset of First Mexican, which changed its name to QcX Gold Corp. in July of this year, is a property in Sonora state, Mexico.
Voisin resigned from First Mexican in October 2019.
The hearing has been set for Jan. 13 in Vancouver.
