Mount Gibson awarded US$114 million in iron ore dispute with Rizhao

Tuesday, 17 August 2010 14:41:53 (GMT+2)

Australian Stock Exchange-listed iron ore miner Mount Gibson Iron Limited has announced that the arbitrations between its subsidiaries, Mount Gibson Mining Limited and Koolan Iron Ore Pty Limited, and Chinese steel mill Rizhao Steel Holding Group Co Limited (Rizhao) have been concluded with a successful outcome for Mount Gibson.

Mount Gibson was placed in a difficult financial position in October 2008 when a number of its customers breached their offtake agreements, with the agreements in question subsequently being terminated.

According to a Mount Gibson statement, the arbitrator has ordered Rizhao, one of the customers mentioned, to pay Mount Gibson an amount of US$114 million by way of damages, plus interest of six percent on and from the date of the award together with Mount Gibson's legal costs of the arbitration.

Mount Gibson's managing director Luke Tonkin said, "Of the three customers against whom legal proceedings were commenced, Mount Gibson has now recovered US$25 million by way of a settlement, and received arbitral awards in its favor of US$23 million and US$114 million. The settlement and the arbitral awards go some way to compensating shareholders for the events of late 2008."

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