B.C. securities regulator fines mining company over ‘false or misleading’ report

A sign at the B.C. Securities Commission office in downtown Vancouver is seen on Dec. 28, 2024. (CTV News)

A B.C. mining company has been fined $15,000 after submitting a report that contained false or misleading statements.

Multi-Metal Development Ltd., formerly known as American CuMo Mining Corporation, was handed the fine on Monday by a panel of the B.C. Securities Commission.

The regulator had previously ruled that Multi-Metal and its former CEO Shaun Methven Dykes had violated the provincial Securities Act by filing the misleading report, misconduct that occurred in 2019.

Proceedings have since been discontinued against Dykes, who died in December 2025.

According to the panel’s decision, which was published online Wednesday, the company filed a technical report in November 2019 that contained the electronic signature of a “qualified person”—referred to in the decision as “H”—while “knowing that H had refused to consent to its filing.”

In a news release announcing the sanction, the BCSC explained that H was a professional engineer and was listed as the author of the report.

“A qualified person must meet specific requirements for education, training and experience, and must consent to the filing of the technical report by a publicly traded company,” the regulator said in the release.

“The expert’s certification is intended to ensure the reliability of the scientific and technical information in the report.”

The inclusion of H’s signature without his consent and the attribution of statements in the document to H were each violations of the Securities Act, according to the panel, which deemed the infractions “serious,” and concluded “some sanction must be imposed.”

The executive director of the BCSC argued for a $30,000 fine, arguing that—although the company had suspended Dykes while it investigated the misleading report—Multi-Metal had reinstated him quickly and sought to “mask or minimize the significance of the misconduct.”

For its part, Multi-Metal argued that it had “acted quickly” to correct the record after the misleading filing, and that Dykes’ death meant the person responsible for the misconduct was no longer in charge.

The company argued that a monetary penalty would only harm its shareholders, which would not be in the public interest. It advocated for the panel to impose no penalty on it, or—if it were absolutely necessary—a penalty of no more than $10,000.

“Multi-Metal says that now that Dykes is no longer connected to the company, it is not in the public interest to impose any sanctions against it,” the decision reads.

“We disagree. We do not accept that MultiMetal’s board of directors bears no oversight responsibility for disclosure. In addition, while Multi-Metal did retract the report and announce an investigation, it promptly reinstated Dykes in his role and glossed over the cause of the problem.”

The BCSC panel ultimately settled on a $15,000 administrative penalty, noting that there was no evidence of any direct harm to investors from the company’s misconduct, nor any evidence that the company had been enriched by it.

Alongside the penalty, the panel issued an order prohibiting trading in the company’s shares until the fine is paid.

Multi-Metal was already subject to a cease trade order for failing to file required documents, according to the panel’s decision. That order also remains in place.