First Quantum acquires new Peruvian mine October 18, 2010 FIRST Quantum Minerals said it has paid C$460m (£285m) for Antares Minerals yesterday, in a move to diversify following the confiscation of its copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Antares’ principal asset is the Haquira copper project in southern Peru, which contains around 3.7m tonnes of copper equivalent. It also lies next to [...]
First Quantum pulls DRC workers September 5, 2010 First Quantum Minerals has pulled nearly all its expat workers out of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the government seized its Frontier copper mine at the end of August. The London-listed miner is in discussions over whether to sue the African state and ENRC, the FTSE 100-listed new owner. It is already in [...]
FIRING September 23, 2010 Q. How do I fire someone and stay within the law? A.Letting someone go can be a bit of a legal minefield, made more complicated by the distinctions between different types of dismissal and the various processes that apply. To put it simply, there are five reasons deemed fair cause for dismissal: capability, conduct, retirement, [...]
Heritage must pay full taxes on Ugandan oil deal, says minister July 25, 2010 PETROLEUM explorer Heritage Oil must pay the full amount of tax on earnings from the sale of assets in Uganda before the government fully endorses the deal, the country’s energy minister said yesterday. The Ugandan government said on 6 July it had given Heritage conditional approval to sell its exploration assets in the country to [...]
Telefonica gets tough on PT July 13, 2010 02 owner Telefonica will seek international arbitration if it does not reach a deal this week with Portugal Telecom (PT) in a tug-of-war over ownership of Brazil’s biggest mobile phone company. Telefonica is understood to have hardened its stance after weekend talks with PT failed to bear fruit. The Portuguese government used a “golden share” [...]
Telefonica gets tough on PT July 13, 2010 02 owner Telefonica will seek international arbitration if it does not reach a deal this week with Portugal Telecom (PT) in a tug-of-war over ownership of Brazil’s biggest mobile phone company. Telefonica is understood to have hardened its stance after weekend talks with PT failed to bear fruit. The Portuguese government used a “golden share” [...]
BAA staff set to strike over wages August 12, 2010 UK AIRPORTS are set to face chaos in the coming weeks after BAA staff in the Unite union voted three-to-one in favour of strike action yesterday. Unite, which represents two-thirds of BAA’s workforce, said the vote showed the firm’s offer of a one per cent basic pay rise was “derisory”. Union heads will meet on [...]
Dispute numbers up in recession fallout June 6, 2010 THE NUMBER of commercial disputes held before international arbitral institutions were up by 16 per cent last year, according to new research, suggesting the recession was one of the main contributors to the rise. Figures from law firm Hogan Lovells’ arbitration practice showed that arbitration bodies across the globe saw a flurry of commercial disputes [...]
Stagecoach wins its subsidy dispute against government June 17, 2010 TRANSPORT group Stagecoach has said it expects its South Western Trains division to be profitable this year after it gained a partial victory in its subsidy dispute with the government. The dispute centred around the timing of government subsidies the group receives, but a rail arbitrator agreed with Stagecoach saying these should be for the [...]
Privacy laws offer City folk protection September 21, 2010 WARREN Buffet once said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently”. A professional reputation, much like a brand or business reputation, also takes many years to build and demands considerable further investment to nurture and grow. Such a reputation, [...]