Norilsk’s battle with BCL liquidator hots up
Tussle moves to whether the Nkomati Nickel agreement is governed by SA or English law
The legal battle between Norilsk Nickel and the liquidators of Botswana's state-owned BCL over a $300m deal has intensified, with the Russian miner's lawyers questioning the liquidator’s motives and accusing him of wasting precious cash resources. The argument over BCL’s nonpayment of $300m for Norilsk's 50% stake in SA's Nkomati Nickel has pitted the giant Russian mining company — the world's largest palladium miner and a major source of nickel — against the Botswana government in a long-running feud over the failed deal. The liquidators argue that the agreement with Norilsk is void because BCL was in dire financial difficulties by the time SA's department of mineral resources considered and then granted a transfer of mining rights from Norilsk to a broke BCL subsidiary. This violated the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and should be cancelled, by extension terminating the deal with Norilsk and the need to pay the Russian miner $300m. In terms of the act, the applic...
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