Update re Bilateral Investment Treaty Claim

RNS Number : 2007V

Pathfinder Minerals Plc

10 December 2021

 

10 December 2021

Pathfinder Minerals Plc

("Pathfinder" or the "Company")

Update re Bilateral Investment Treaty Claim

Pathfinder provides an update on its dispute concerning mining concession 4623C (the "Licence"). The Company has significantly advanced its preparation to refer the dispute to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID") under the Mozambique - United Kingdom Bilateral Investment Treaty (2004) (the "Treaty"). This preparatory work includes the development of a detailed budget and timeline for claimant costs, the identification of the Company's litigation team, and independent professional analysis of valuations for differing successful outcomes at an ICSID tribunal.

These elements have been compiled into a briefing pack for detailed review by institutional litigation funders who would fund the claim with fees payable only in the event of a successful outcome for the Company.

The pack has been developed by Travers Smith LLP, the Company's solicitors and draws on detailed valuation mechanisms from Versant Partners LLC ("Versant"). Whilst the detail behind the valuation remains legally privileged, the Versant analysis assesses a range of successful scenarios with valuation ranges from a minimum of US$110m for an ex-ante damages award through to US$1,500m for an ex-post damages award. The Versant valuation supports the US$621.3m of estimated losses, detailed in the Company's 12 April 2021 announcement, that has been notified to the Government of Mozambique. Whilst the Company is confident in its position, Shareholders should be aware that there is no guarantee that this, or any, amount will be recovered, should the Company refer the matter to the ICSID.

Peter Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Pathfinder, commented:

"A huge amount of work over recent months has gone into advancing our position with respect to a potential claim under the Treaty. With independent professional analysis supporting a range of high value award scenarios, and legal counsel attributing a favourable prospect of establishing liability on the part of the Government of Mozambique, a claim under the Treaty is now a very likely course of action. While this was never our preferred path, and we remain open to alternative solutions with the current Licence-holder, we believe we have strong prospects of recovering very significant monetary damages through this process.

In the meantime, we believe Pathfinder can pursue other opportunities in parallel to further our multi-project strategy. To this end we are looking at a range of mineral projects including graphite and lithium where we believe we can create value while advancing the litigation strategy."

Enquiries:

Pathfinder Minerals Plc

Peter Taylor, Chief Executive Officer

Tel. +44 [phone]

Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated & Financial Adviser and Broker)

James Spinney / Ritchie Balmer / Rob Patrick

Tel. [phone]

Vigo Consulting (Public Relations)

Ben Simons / Charlie Neish / Kate Kilgallen

Tel. [phone]

Email [e-mail]

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR").

 

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