(February 7 – 15:15 ET) – Two men who allegedly convinced 11 elderly investors to put more than $148,000 into a mining company have been ordered to appear before a British Columbia Securities Commission panel.

Gordon Dix Jr., Ronald James Henry and Sota Mining Corp. face allegations of trading in securities without being registered; acting as advisors without being registered; distributing securities without filing a prospectus; and making misrepresentations to investors. Dix and Henry are scheduled to appear before a BCSC panel on February 16 to fix a date for a hearing.

According to promotional material, Sota Mining Corp. acquires and develops undervalued mining properties. Sota is not a reporting issuer in B.C.

Between April 1998 and April 2000, Henry was the sole director and president of Sota while Dix was the company’s vice-president investor relations. The BCSC alleges that during this two-year period, Dix and Henry solicited funds by promising investors they would receive a percentage interest in the net profits of the mining corporation.

In several cases, Dix allegedly made contact with investors at their homes while acting as a vacuum cleaner salesman. In at least one instance, Dix allegedly guaranteed an investor a specific amount of return on the investment.

The BCSC says the majority of the investors were between 70 and 86 and live in Victoria, Sidney or Kelowna. None were experienced investors and some placed the majority of their savings in Sota Mining.
-IE Staff