DISPUTE WATCH- The Egyptian gov’t is facing a multi-mn USD lawsuit from an Australian mining company: Australian mining company Gippsland filed a lawsuit for potentially hundreds of mns of USD against the state-owned Egyptian Company for Mineral Resources (ECMR) in 2018, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The Perth-based firm agreed to set up Tantalum International Ltd. (TIL), a joint venture company with ECMR back in 2004 to mine tantalum, but began arbitration proceedings in June last year at the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The company is accusing ECMR of breaching “a variety of obligations with respect to how they conducted themselves.”

The lawsuit was filed in 2018, but it appears to just be getting attention now, as the Sydney Morning Herald’s story on Saturday is (as far as we can tell) the first time the lawsuit has received any coverage. The abrupt emergence of the story comes at a time when the Madbouly government is working hard to clear investor disputes and arbitration cases brought against Egypt.

What are Gippsland’s grievances? Gippsland accuses the government of obstructing production from the mine, and removing them unfairly from the project. The Australian company had entered into a 50-50 JV with ECMR in 2004, but in 2015 the government dissolved the company citing poor financials and delays. Gippsland had spent around USD 60 mn on feasibility studies and other preliminary works before the government removed it from the project. The mine would have also become the world’s largest, providing up to a quarter of the world’s tantalum supply.

TIL believes “bn-USD” potential means it is owed “significant” damages: TIL chair Mike Rosenstreich says the firm has a "strong legal case" to seek "significant" damages, indicating that the mine's bn-USD potential will be used as a guide to determine how much compensation is sought. "It's not just about what we spent, but about what we lost,” he said. “It's hundreds of millions of USD.”

Where the case stands now: TIL reportedly secured litigation funding in 2016, having reportedly sought to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels without success. The company has filed its documents to the ICSID, while the Egyptian government has yet to take the same step.

Advisers: London-based Clifford Chance is advising TIL, while the Egyptian government is being represented by New York's Shearman and Sterling.