Canada's

Canada's Ascendant mining company is sueing the Ecuadorian Intag newspaper for its criticisms.

Chapter 2 in Ascendant's slander suit against INTAG, a community newspaper: Mining Transnational asking one million dollars in damages

By Mary Ellen Fieweger - Editor, INTAG NEWSPAPER
10th January 2005

Ascendant Exploration, the Canadian mining company eager to begin copper production in Intag, has just opened a new chapter in its libel suit against periódico INTAG. The suit, filed in September, was sent to a criminal court in Ibarra in December. The mining transnational claims that damages suffered at the hands of our community newspaper come to a cool million dollars, and the company is also asking that we pay legal fees and court costs. As those of you who have checked out Ascendant's web site know, the company is very proud of its concern for the "human factor," which no doubt explains why John Bolaños Moreano, the mining company's representative, chose to begin criminal proceedings against INTAG two days before Christmas.

In his complaint, Mr. Bolaños argues that the company has taken this step because INTAG neglected to respond to its request for certified copies of the issue containing statements allegedly damaging to the company, and for information about the identify of the author of the article in question.

Said article appears on pages 1 and 2 of the July 2004 issue of INTAG. The title (the English equivalent) is: County Authorities and Community Organizations Meet with the National Director of Mines". The author is José Rivera, and his name appears right there, under the headline, on page 1.

We did not respond to the September 10, 2004 summons to appear in court simply because we never received the summons from the court in question. Instead, we found out that we are being sued because Ascendant sent us a copy of the complaint by mail.

But the major issue here is: What does Ascendant find offensive about the article cited? As far as we can tell, they are displeased that José reported what people at the meeting said. Among those whose statements are quoted and/or paraphrased, are the National Director of Mining, the lawyer for Cotacachi County, a parish authority, the mayor of Cotacachi, and a series of residents who provided statements on the company's activities in their communities. José attributes all statements to their respective source.

It appears that Ascendant has little use for freedom of expression, a right guaranteed by the constitution and laws of virtually every country in the world, including Ecuador (and Canada).

So, friends of Intag, and of periódico INTAG, we are once again in need of letters of support. Below are the addresses of Ascendant's CEO Christopher Werner and its president Paul Grist. When you write, please also send a copy of your letter to us at intag2001@yahoo.com For those of you who wrote back in October when this legal process began, would you mind doing so again? Something like this will do:

"Just a little note to say that I wrote to you back in October about this. I can't believe you're pursuing what is clearly a harassment suit. Shame on you." And send a copy of this to us as well.

And, if you've been following the Ascendant saga at this address or on the new English language online version of INTAG (www.intagnewspaper.org) you know that the mining company wants to raise money by going public, listing itself on the Toronto Stock Exchange. By sending a copy of your Ascendant letter to Francis Manns, the person in charge of Compliance and Disclosure for the Toronto Stock Exchange, you may raise a few eyebrows and also perhaps bring on some second thoughts about Ascendant's ethics.

Thank you all from the bottom of our collective heart. And we hope your new year is filled with peace and solidarity.

Mary Ellen Fieweger Editor, INTAG

Addresses for letters:

Christopher Werner cw@ascendantholdings.com

Paul Grist República del Salvador N34-183 Torre Azul, 3rd floor Quito, Ecuador info@ascendantexploration.com

Francis Manns, Ph.D. Compliance and Disclosure Toronto Stock Exchange Francis.Manns@tsx.com