Former managing director of mining company Golden Fields Resources Pty Ltd, Mr Darren James Lind, has been sentenced by the District Court of South Australia for insider trading in contravention of s1043A of the Corporations Act.

Mr Lind, of Brighton, South Australia, was sentenced to 18-months imprisonment, with a minimum custodial term of 9 months to be served.

After a two-week trial in August 2018, Mr Lind was found guilty of two counts of insider trading in shares of ASX listed mining exploration company Minotaur Exploration Ltd (Minotaur) (18-244MR).

In sentencing Mr Lind, Her Honour Judge Tracey said, 'Such offending cannot be characterised as victimless and it is properly described as a form of cheating. Other traders did not have the same opportunity to profit as you did and, speaking more generally, such offending undermines the integrity of the market and brings with it a loss of faith in the system.  This type of offending is difficult to detect and to investigate.'

Mr Lind has the right to appeal his sentence. Mr Lind has appealed against his conviction and a hearing is listed on 15 March 2019 in the Supreme Court of South Australia.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions prosecuted the matter.

Background

Mr Lind was a former managing director of the company Golden Fields Resources Pty Ltd, which had a joint venture partnership with Minotaur to explore for copper-gold at its ‘Eloise Project’ site in Cloncurry, Queensland.

ASIC’s case was that Mr Lind came into possession of inside information regarding the copper-gold discovery at Cloncurry during a meeting with Minotaur personnel on 25 July 2014.

Following an ASX announcement regarding the copper-gold discovery on 31 July 2014, Minotaur’s share price doubled in value.

Mr Lind was charged with these offences on 20 July 2016 and was committed for trial on 8 June 2017.

Editor's note:

Mr Lind subsequently abandoned his appeal against conviction.