http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=337722&sc=87

Claims battle costing the province jobs and money
The Telegram

The citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador should be made aware of a situation that has been dragged out for the better part of a decade.
This situation involves the ongoing (never ending) dispute between Vinland Resources versus the
government, Noranda and Canstar Resources.
In particular, this pertains to the Mary March property located in
the Grand Falls-Windsor/Buchans area.
This Mary March property was “understood” to have been awarded to the Anglo-Newfoundland Development (AND) Company since 1905. The government has “represented” and “indicated” this fact all these years.
In fact, the Mary March property has always been identified as AND Charter lands by the government.
Under the existing legislation, a loophole has placed claimholder’s rights in jeopardy. This had ultimately left the Mineral Rights Adjudication Board with a very difficult task — to confirm that the disputed lands were, in fact, included in the AND Charter Lands.
This board was presented with
a very large volume of evidentiary material that required a detailed and diligent assessment as part of the process to render a decision. On Oct. 23, 2009, the Adjudication Board unanimously rejected Vinland Resources’ claim. Unfortunately, this was appealed on a point of law by Vinland Resources.
Why should the citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador be concerned? The reasons are many, which affect the entire province.
This protracted dispute has resulted in a colossal waste of tax dollars , many lost jobs, lost income, lost investment, especially in an area that has been hard hit by shutdowns in the forestry industry — all the more reason to create jobs and investment in the mining industry.
Many believe that a change in legislation could have fixed regulations.
This would have sealed up the loophole which allowed this dispute to begin in the first place. This has been indicated by lawyers on more than one occasion.
To allow an attempted claim jump on a property and hold it in limbo for 10 years is not only unbelievable, but inconceivable.
This is not a commitment to protecting claimholder's rights. To allow claim jumping in the first place is wrong on many levels.
Vinland Resources has lost three decisions to date.
How many is enough? Whatever happened to “three strikes and you’re out”?
Many believe it has come to the point where the government should step up to the plate, pass legislation and stop situations like this from happening in the future.
This, in itself, would save countless tax dollars in legal costs.

Don Clark
Canstar shareholder
Victoria, B.C.