Egypt court rules in favor of Centamin, ending 12-year legal dispute

The end of a decade-old legal battle: The Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) rejected a 2011 legal challenge against LSE-listed gold miner Centamin’s Sukari mine concession, the company said in a disclosure on the exchange.

The lawsuit summed up: A third-party filed a lawsuit against Centamin in 2011, challenging the validity of the Sukari’s exploitation lease between the Egyptian government, Centamin's Egyptian subsidiary Pharaoh Gold Mines (PGM), and the Egyptian Mineral Resource Authority (EMRA). A year later, the Supreme Administrative Court found that even though the agreement itself was valid, EMRA and PGM hadn’t received the necessary approvals for the exploitation lease. The defendant appealed the lawsuit, but the final decision has been pending the Supreme Constitutional Court’s ruling on the Appeals Against State Contracts Act, which upheld the legislation earlier this year.

The rationale: The court rejected the case in its entirety, seeing as the claimant “had no capacity to bring the claim,” as he was not part of the Sukari mine concession agreement. Third-party lawsuits against state-investor contracts are not possible under the Appeals Against State Contracts Act, a 2014 bill that prevents third-parties from mounting legal challenges against contracts signed between the government and investors.

That’s final: “The claimant has no right to appeal and today's judgment is final and therefore brings this long-running litigation to a close,” the company said.

Business as usual at Sukari: Operations at the Sukari Gold Mine were not disrupted during the duration of the dispute.