Last year, Haber, Inc., which extracts gold from ore and E-wastes, announced plans for their proposed plant in the Okeechobee County Industrial Park that would employ 45 people in two shifts.

Mr. Haber developed the Haber Gold Process (HGP), an environmentally friendly gold mining technology, which unlike more exacting processes, does not use cyanide solutions. The company claims that HGP routinely recovers more gold than cyanide leaching at a faster rate and at a cost equal to or less than cyanide leaching.

The proposed Okeechobee site was to serve as both a production and pilot facility and a training facility for Haber employees who would be operating other plants. The original plan was for two precious metal recovery lines - one for E-waste and the other for gold ore.

The plant was to operate out of an 18,000-square-foot building in the Okeechobee County Industrial Park. This property was leased from the county by Greg Bozenbury in 1997 for 40 years. Following agreement by both parties and approval by the Okeechobee County Board of County Commissioners, the property was to be subleased to Haber.

"Haber Inc., contends that Bozenbury's conduct with respect to its contract with Haber, Inc, was wrongful and seeks court intervention to adjudicate the matter," said Albert B. Conti," Haber's president and COO in a press release from the company dated April 17. "We will continue our small-scale pilot lot testing and recovery of gold and other metals from electronic waste at our laboratories in Fort Pierce, Florida, and are intensifying our search for alternative large-scale facilities in other parts of the country."

In late December of 2005, after talks broke off, Peter D'Angelo of Haber told the Okeechobee News that the company was reviewing its options and the door was not completely closed on coming to Okeechobee.

Commissioner Elvie Posey said he would have reservations about approving the sublease because of environmental concerns. Commissioner Ray Domer expressed the same reservations.

However, Commissioner Clif Betts, Jr. said that the lawsuit was a civil matter between Mr. Bozenbury and Haber. It was his understanding that the environmental wastes would be self-contained and he would have no problem approving the sublease.

The suit, filed in Okeechobee County on April 17, states that the possibility of leasing back a portion of the property to Mr. Bozenbury was discussed. That idea was abandoned because the suit said it became apparent that the two parties would be incompatible.

However, the suit goes on to state that on or about Nov. 8, 2005, Mr. Bozenbury once again brought up the issue of leaseback rights. Haber refused that option.

About a week prior to the closing date, the suit contends that Mr. Bozenbury stated that he would not request that the county commissioners consider a sublease of the property.

The second count accuses Mr. Bozenbury of breach of contract for not submitting a request to the county commissioners for sublease. It also states that, at the last minute, Mr. Bozenbury requested a leaseback of a portion of the property - a provision not incorporated into the contract.

The fourth and fifth counts allege fraud and state that Mr. Bozenbury's misrepresentation caused the $20,000 escrow deposit made by Haber to be released to Mr. Bozenbury. The suit further states that Mr. Bozenbury never advised Haber that he had a Small Business Administration loan and that a sublease would violate the terms of that loan.

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