China Minerals Mining Corp. on Jan. 18 said the British Columbia Supreme Court declined to hear its judicial review on the legal dispute against the province regarding third-party rights and incremental treaty agreement negotiations involving the Cassiar gold project.

The Supreme Court ruled that the return of the lands where China Minerals hold mineral tenures from Kaska Dena back to British Columbia rendered the dispute moot.

China Minerals executive chairman Ling Zhu said the lands were returned to the province just five days before the start of the case's hearing on Jan. 16, after the company spent three years defending its rights to its mineral tenures.