Arctic miner GreenX to pocket £740m in damages from Polish government
Arctic miner GreenX Metals is set to pocket £737m in damages from the Polish government, following a hearing in London over the past two weeks.
The London-listed company, which mines for metals critical for the green transition, had sued Poland for profits lost in relation to two projects, Jan Karski and Debiensko, based in the country.
The development of both projects was blocked by the government, which “deprived GreenX of the entire value of its investments” and went against Poland’s obligations under the Energy Charter Treaty and Australia-Poland Bilateral Investment Treaty, the firm wrote today.
With the years-long dispute finally wrapped up, the company’s share price jumped more than a third to 27.50p per share today.
“GreenX’s investment dispute with the Republic of Poland is not unique, with international media widely reporting that the political environment and investment climate in Poland has deteriorated since the change in Government in 2015,” the company added.
“As a result, there are a significant number of international arbitration claims being bought against Poland.”
London-listed GreenX, which is currently mining in the Arctic, had first notified the Polish government of the dispute in February 2019, seeking negotiations to straighten out issues surrounding its mining projects.
The company filed an official claim against the Republic of Poland in September 2020, just weeks after securing a $12.3m (£10.2m) funding agreement with Litigation Capital Management, which it will use to cover its legal costs.
GreenX CEO Benjamin Stoikovich said: “There has been an enormous amount of time and effort put into the claim by our legal and management teams.
“We now look forward to the arbitral tribunal rendering the Award in due course. GreenX has claimed up to £737m in damages following Poland’s acts against the company which prevented it from being able to develop the Jan Karski and Debiensko projects.”