ENRC to pay out $1.25bn to settle Congo dispute
Kazakh miner ENRC said it agreed a $1.25bn (£806.4m) settlement with Canada’s First Quantum Minerals to end a long-running dispute over ownership of the Kolwezi project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The London-listed miner said the deal would enable it to start developing its operations at the copper-cobalt Kolwezi Tailings project.
ENRC will pay $750m plus a deferred consideration of $500m as part of the settlement with First Quantum, the former owner of Kolwezi until its licence was revoked by the DR Congo in 2009.
The dispute had been expected to go to trial after a court upheld First Quantum’s $2bn claim for damages for the revoked Congo asset in September.
“This is really a compensation agreement. We have no idea what we are selling because we are not sure what is left of the assets,” Clive Newall, President of First Quantum told Reuters in an interview.