London — Acacia Mining could use a bilateral investment treaty to force face-to-face talks with Tanzania over a long-running tax dispute that has seen the company hit with a huge tax bill, and which has spilt over into the courts. Acacia's parent, Barrick Gold, has been negotiating with the Tanzanian government on behalf of London-listed Acacia for 19 months but no final settlement has been reached. An investment treaty between Tanzania and Britain could compel the East African country to have direct dialogue with Acacia over a period of six months, interim CEO Peter Geleta told Reuters. "It's a further right that we have under the bilateral agreements between the countries," he said. "But our first intention is to get parties to the table and to come up with a negotiated resolution, you don’t want to fight these fights in court, its not what we want to do." Tanzania's President, John Magufuli, has sent shockwaves through the mining industry with a series of actions since his electi...

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