Colombia not liable to pay $736 mln to miner Eco Oro - gov't (updated)

Eco Oro Minerals

10/09/2021 21:35

(Adds comment from Eco Oro)
    BOGOTA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Colombia's government said on
Friday a World Bank tribunal has ruled it is currently not
liable to pay $736 million in damages to Eco Oro Minerals Corp
 EOM.CD  after the Canadian mining company alleged that the
Andean nation's prohibition on mining in high-altitude wetlands
constituted an indirect expropriation.
    In its own statement, Eco Oro celebrated that the tribunal
found Colombia acted in violation of investment protection norms
enshrined in the free trade agreement between Canada and
Colombia, which means the case will continue.
    Eco Oro pulled out of the Angostura gold concession in 2019
after the project's area in Santander province was cut in half
by a constitutional court ruling and new regulations that
expanded wetland protections. It said the change made the
project, in which it had invested some $250 million, impossible.
    The legal case, where the company alleged the restrictions
amounted to indirect expropriation of its investment, began in
2016.
    Colombia's National Agency for Judicial Defense of the State
said in a statement that the International Center for Settlement
of Investment Disputes tribunal recognized that the measure was
not discriminatory toward Eco Oro shareholders and was an effort
to legitimately protect the environment.
    "The tribunal recognized the fundamental role of the
wetlands as sources and regulators for the water cycle, amid
global phenomena like climate change," the agency said.
    Meanwhile, Eco Oro said the tribunal has requested more
information from the two sides on potential damages related to
the violation of the free trade agreement.
    "Eco Oro is pleased that the Tribunal has acknowledged that
Colombia violated the Treaty in taking measures that put an end
to the Angostura Project," chief executive Paul Robertson said
in the statement. "Eco Oro looks forward to the issuance of the
Tribunal's decision on the issue of compensation."

 (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta
Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Mark Porter and Aurora
Ellis)
 ((julia.cobb@thomsonreuters.com; +57-316-389-7187))