LUSAKA (Reuters) – Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), owned by Vedanta Resources, has been ordered by a London court to pay the Zambian government more than $100 million for a claim related to the copper price, a state-owned company involved in the dispute said.
The claim relates to outstanding payments under a 2013 copper price participation settlement agreement between KCM and Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investments Holdings (ZCCM-IH), the latter said late on Monday.
In June this year, ZCCM-IH filed the claim with the English High Court to recover over $100 million it said was owed to it from KCM in terms of the 2013 agreement.
“We now advise that ZCCM-IH has been successful in its application for default judgment. KCM has been ordered (on 16 December 2016) to pay all sums owed to ZCCM-IH,” the state company said.
“The total amount to be paid by KCM amounts to approximately $103 million. KCM has also been ordered to reimburse ZCCM-IH 80 percent of the costs it has incurred in pursuing its claim.”
A ZCCM-IH spokeswoman said the company and KCM planned to issue a joint press statement on Tuesday to give further details of the ruling.
(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Ed Cropley)