Vedanta pays $246 million to regain Zambia copper mines
The metals and energy major plans to ramp up copper production from the mines to 300,000 tons a year and cobalt output to 6,000 tons.
The remote Dornod uranium project in northeastern Mongolia. (Image courtesy of Khan Resources)
The government of Mongolia will honour a $100 million arbitration payment to Canada’s Khan Resources (TSX:KRI), awarded by an international court in March, following the breakdown of talks and the recent death of the company’s chairman.
Prime Minister Saikhanbileg Chimed told Bloomberg the government would carry out its obligation. “We’re not ignoring, we’re respecting. We will comply,” he said.
The company, however, said in a statement Monday it had not yet received any direct communication from Mongolia on the matter.
Chairman Jim Doak, a prominent figure in the Toronto financial industry, was found dead in a hotel room in April. He had travelled to Ulaanbaatar to negotiate the payment of such amount awarded to the firm earlier in the year.
An autopsy performed in Canada found his death to be from natural causes related to the late-onset Type 1 diabetes he suffered for almost 40 years.
Khan had pursued the claim after Mongolia nationalized in 2010 the Dornod uranium deposit it was developing. Initially the miner had sought $326 million in compensation for having its mining licenses cancelled by Mongolia and given to Russian producer ARMZ, but the tribunal lowered the payout to $100 million, including interest and costs, based on previous offers made for the asset.
Minister Chimed has promised to put and end to several high profile disputes with overseas companies, which have pushed investors away and damaged the nation’s economic growth.
The Asian Development Bank has forecast a 3% percent expansion for 2015 from 7.8% last year.
2 Comments
welmo
zailuuldaa mongol maani dandaa har baraanaar garj bhin hehe.
Honheree
The only reason the Prime Minister made a positive statement was because he was visiting Washington and New York from June 23 to
June 27 to promote opportunities for investment in his country.
Just waiting for the retraction or alteration of that statement once he returns to Mongolia (‘What I really meant to say is ….etc”). That would follow the norm for the corrupt Mongolian government.