Zimbabwe, which is banking on investment in its natural resources to arrest an economic free-fall, faces having the assets of the state mining company seized after a final appeal of a 2014 arbitration ruling failed.
Companies linked to British Virgin Islands-based Amari Holdings Ltd. won the right to seize assets worth $65.9 million in compensation for Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp.’s cancellation of nickel and platinum ventures formed in 2007 and 2008. The ruling by the International Court of Arbitration was made after a hearing in Lusaka, Zambia.
The development comes at a difficult time for Zimbabwe, with the government forecasting the economy will contract 6.5% this year because of crippling foreign-currency, fuel, wheat and power shortages.
The state is seeking to convince investors from Cyprus, South Africa, Russia and Nigeria to spend billions of dollars developing its platinum reserves, the world’s third-largest. It’s also rich in gold, chrome and iron ore.
“We are by law entitled to attach any asset belonging to the ZMDC or their 100% shareholder, the Zimbabwean government,” Ian Small-Smith, a lawyer acting for Amari, said Monday. “They seemingly still don’t appreciate how adversely this will impact the credibility of Zimbabwe as an investment destination.”
For the rest of this article: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zimbabwe-faces-mining-asset-seizure-083742790.html