Australia-based miner
Rio Tinto has announced that it has filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against Brazil-based miner
Vale and BSG Resources Limited regarding
mining concessions in
Guinea.
The complaint relates to the loss of half of
Rio Tinto's
mining concession in the Simandou region of southeast
Guinea in 2008.
Rio Tinto is asking the court to award compensatory, consequential, exemplary and punitive damages to
Rio Tinto in an amount to be determined at trial.
In 2008, a
mining license related to the Simandou
iron ore project was granted to BSG Resources Limited instead of
Rio Tinto.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, recently the Guinean government has cancelled the
mining licenses for the Simandou and Zogota
iron ore projects due to a technical committee report, indicating that the
mining licenses were obtained by BSG Resources Limited through corrupt practices.