Centamin requests dismissal of lawsuit over its Sukari mine concession after court ruling

Ahram Online , Monday 16 Jan 2023

Gold mining company Centamin PLC requested on Monday the dismissal of lawsuit over its Sukari mine concession after the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) ruled to uphold a law regulating appeals against government contracts in Egypt.

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Sukari mine

 

On Saturday, the SCC rejected a lawsuit contesting the constitutionality of a 2014 law regulating appeals against state contracts.

The law was issued by former interim President Adly Mansour in 2014.

Its aim was to bring to a halt suits filed by non-involved parties by limiting litigation rights only to parties involved in the state contracts.

These parties include those who have personal or in-kind rights over the money addressed by the contract as well as the parties signing the contracts.

Under the law, courts shall not accept third-party suits or appeals.

“On the basis that the constitutionality is upheld, an application would be made to dismiss the proceedings,” read a statement issued by Centamin on Monday.

In September 2011, late lawyer and MP Hamdi El-Fakharany filed a lawsuit to challenge and nullify the concession agreement at the Administrative Court between the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Egyptian Mineral Resource Authority (EMRA) and Centamin’s Egyptian subsidiary Pharaoh Gold Mines (PGM).

In June 2016, the appeal stayed indefinitely pending the outcome of the SCC’s ruling on the constitutionality of law regulating appeals against government contracts in Egypt that was issued in 2014 after it was challenged by the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) led by former presidential candidate and socialist human rights lawyer Khaled Ali.

The London-listed gold-mining company stressed that its operations at the Sukari gold mine remain unaffected and continue as normal.

Construction of the Sukari gold mine in the Red Sea governorate began in 2007, with the first gold being produced in mid-2009. It is the country’s first modern gold mine.

Centamin and its Egyptian branch have been exploring gold in Egypt since 1995.

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