LLEN Receives Affirmation of Ownership from Former Ping Yi Owners
In response to misleading and false allegations questioning L&L’s ownership of its Ping Yi Mine, the Company has contacted Ping Yi’s previous owners who confirmed L&L’s purchase of the Ping Yi Mine. In the attached affirmation letter, the three former owners, Mr. Baoguo Zhang, Mr. Honglin Chen, and Mr. Shauangyou Liu state they were controlling owners and gave Mr. Baoguo Zhang the authority to sign the agreement selling the mine to L&L and confirmed that Mr. Baoguo Zhang received payments from L&L for the purchase of the mine.
The former owners also signed a declaration stating that Mr. Hu Shiwei, who questioned L&L’s ownership on a video, was misled by a third party. His statements were also the subject of a series of statements and videos that included incorrect information. In the declaration, the former owners of the Ping YI mine, who now reaffirm that they sold the Ping Yi Mine to L&L, request that any information stemming from Mr. HuShiwei be removed.
SEATTLE, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- L & L Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: LLEN) ("L&L" or the "Company"), a U.S. based company since 1995 with coal mining and distribution businesses in southwest China, announced today it reaffirms its ownership in Ping Yi Mine ("Ping Yi") and states it has not posted Ping Yi for sale.
A GeoInvesting blog/article recently cites three questions, regarding ownership of Ping Yi, availability of Ping Yi for sale, and coal production at DaPuAn Mine ("DaPuAn").
Regarding ownership, the Company reaffirms its ownership rights in Ping Yi Mine. As the Company has disclosed in its most recent 10-K, "effective November 1, 2009, KMC (a wholly owned subsidiary of L&L) through its subsidiary Baoxing Co., entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of Ping Yi mine operations." The disclosure is consistent with both legal opinion (issued by a large and reputable law firm in China) and audit opinion (issued by an independent auditing firm after its FY 2011 year-end audit on the Company.)
Ed Moy, L&L Board Director and Vice President commented, "Last April, I led investors on a tour of our operations in Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces of China, which included a visit to Ping Yi Mine. Investors had a chance to meet and talk with our staff and local mine management. I can therefore confirm our ownership of Ping Yi Mine."
Regarding the sale notices mentioned by GeoInvesting in its article, the Company never authorized or prepared such sale notices. Accordingly, the Company does not know the source of such notices.
As stated in the Company's last quarterly report, an accident that happened at a mine not owned by L&L (located a few miles from DaPuAn) had caused DaPuAn to be temporarily idled. The Company is currently working with the local government to reach full production. However, due to the way local governments and agencies operate, it is often extremely difficult to predict the overall impact of any governmentally initiated interruption on coal production. Therefore, as already stated in our most recent 10-Q, "we believe that the Company will continue to experience periodic to frequent idling or production slowdowns until the consolidation process reaches critical mass and closes down small or high risk mines that were not acquired by a consolidator."
Dickson Lee, Chairman and CEO of L&L further commented, "L&L made an officer available to GeoInvesting for interview and also offered to answer GeoInvesting's questions directed to me in writing. But GeoInvesting refused and insisted on speaking with me personally, at a time when I have been traveling extensively in Asia and frequently in very remote mining areas."
Given that GeoInvesting has made publication without proper verification, the Company with due respect, does not plan to respond to any of GeoInvesting's future publications.
July 1995
Seattle, WashingtonUnited States
April 30
~1,000
Coal
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