Johannesburg - Vedanta Resources’ Zambian unit must pay
the southern African country’s majority state-owned mining investment company
about $103 million after a London ruling related to a copper-price agreement.
ZCCM Investments Holdings obtained a default judgment in
the High Court of Justice against Konkola Copper Mines on December 16, it said
in an e-mailed statement Monday. The payment is due within 30 days, it said
Tuesday. KCM said in an e-mailed statement later in the day it was consulting
with ZCCM-IH and “other relevant stakeholders to resolve all outstanding issues
within 30 days in accordance with the court’s ruling.”
KCM hadn’t paid the money owed under the copper-price
participation deal because of “operational and financial challenges,” ZCCM-IH,
which has a 20.6 percent shareholding in Konkola, said in its 2015 annual
report. The Vedanta unit was in talks with ZCCM-IH and the government to pay
the claim, which needed to be settled from available cash flows, KCM CEO
Steven Din said November 10. The company was at that point hoping to resolve
the matter out of court, after ZCCM-IH filed the case in June, he told
investors on a call.
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ZCCM-IH said the court directed that it be determined
whether KCM made payments to its parent company that breached a 2013 settlement
agreement.
“If and to the extent it is determined that such payments
were made, ZCCM-IH will be entitled to recover additional sums from KCM,” the
company said.
ZCCM-IH is also claiming damages from First Quantum
Minerals’ Kansanshi unit in Zambia, in which it has a 20 percent shareholding,
in the Lusaka High Court, and has started arbitration proceedings in London
over the same matter related to a loan it said Kansanshi gave First Quantum
that wasn’t at arm’s length terms. First Quantum denies any wrongdoing.