South32 is appealing against a Colombian Constitutional Court ruling that it had to pay damages to communities negatively affected by waste emissions from its Cerro Matoso nickel operations in that country. While the damages have yet to be quantified, South32 said it had accepted "notification" of the decision regarding "alleged health and environmental impacts on the community surrounding our Cerro Matoso operation" from the court. "We are in the process of appealing the decision," said South32, an Australian company spun out of BHP. Its share price fell more than 3% in Johannesburg and London on Wednesday. The company said it was unable to "fully assess any potential financial or operational impacts, as the decision orders various compensatory and remedial activities which are not yet quantifiable". The ruling had potentially serious consequences for South32, with Reuters reporting that according to a summary of the ruling Cerro Matoso had to reapply for its mining licence because...
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