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GreenX Metals (ASX: GRX) reported Tuesday it has won its arbitration claims against Poland under both the Australia-Poland Bilateral Investment Treaty and the Energy Charter Treaty.
The company was awarded £252 million ($325m) after an international tribunal unanimously held that the Polish government had breached its obligations under the treaties in relation to the Jan Karski coking coal project.
The Australian company, formerly Prairie Mining, launched international arbitration proceedings against Poland in 2020, arguing that Warsaw breached bilateral treaties by blocking Prairie’s investment in two coal mines — Jan Karski and Dębieńsko.
Polish media reported at the time that the company could seek as much as 10 billion zlotys ($2.64 billion) in compensation.
Regarding the Dębieńsko project, the tribunal did not uphold the claim under the treaties.
The projects contain coking coal as well as thermal coal. Thermal coal, used for power, is struggling to attract investment because of concerns about the environment, while coking coal, used in steelmaking, is still viewed as a strategic mineral.
The company was represented by international disputes firm Lalive and co-represented by US-based firm Boies Schiller Flexner. The claim was brought under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Rules. The awards are final and binding.
“The tribunal’s unanimous decision relating to GreenX’s Jan Karski project provides further confidence to the mining industry and international investors more generally in the protection granted to them by the bilateral and multilateral investment treaty system,” Lalive partner Marc Veit said in a news release.
“It highlights that there is successful recourse against resource nationalism no matter where it takes place, even in a developed European economy,” Veit said.
GreenX Metals is also advancing the Arctic Rift copper project in Greenland.
