UPDATE 1-Barrick sues New Gold over El Morro stake sale

* Barrick says New Gold improperly exercised rights

* Files claim in Ontario Superior Court (In U.S. dollars unless noted)

TORONTO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Barrick Gold <ABX.TO> is taking New Gold Inc <NGD.TO>, a junior exploration company, to court to try to derail its deal to sell a 70 percent stake in the El Morro copper-gold project in Chile to Canadian mining rival Goldcorp <G.TO>.

Barrick itself had agreed to buy the El Morro stake from its owner, Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata <XTA.L>, in October for $465 million but its bid was scuttled by the New Gold-Goldcorp deal.

Barrick, the world's biggest gold miner, said on Wednesday it has filed a claim in Ontario Superior Court that alleges that New Gold broke Chilean law when it essentially transferred its right of first refusal on buying the stake to Goldcorp in a $513 million deal announced last week.

New Gold holds the 30 percent of the project not owned by Xstrata and has the right to match any offer for Xstrata's 70 percent stake.

"New Gold's purported exercise of the right of first refusal is illegal, defective and ineffective under the laws of the Republic of Chile as well as under the terms of the El Morro shareholders agreement," Barrick said in a statement of claim obtained by Reuters.

El Morro is an advanced stage copper-gold project located in north-central Chile. It holds reserves of 6.7 million ounces of gold and 5.7 billion pounds of copper.

In its deal with New Gold, Goldcorp will advance it $463 million to allow it to match Barrick's offer and buy the stake.

After the acquisition by a New Gold subsidiary, Goldcorp will acquire that subsidiary from New Gold. It will pay New Gold $50 million in cash upon closing the deal. (Reporting by Cameron French; editing by Peter Galloway)

© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.

Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.