Appian Capital Advisory has scored a big win after the UK top court ruled that Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW) (NYSE: SBSW) had to pay the London-based investment firm a $1.2 billion compensation for the termination of two Brazilian mines acquisition. 

Appian took Sibanye-Stillwater to court in 2022, after the South African precious metals miner scrapped a transaction to buy shares in Atlantic Nickel and Mineração Vale Verde, owners of the Santa Rita nickel and Serrote copper mines in Brazil respectively.

The acquisition of the two operations was meant to boost Sibanye’s critical metals portfolio as it sought to diversify away from platinum and gold.

Sibanye cited a geotechnical event at Santa Rita as the reason for terminating the deals. Appian claimed the miner’s decision was based on an “incorrect assertion”.

In the ruling, handed down following a five-week trial, the judge Justice Butcher said the geotechnical event used by Sibanye as reason for withdrawing from the deal was neither expected to be material nor reasonably anticipated to become so.

Butcher noted there was “no other basis on which Sibanye was entitled to terminate the sale and purchase agreements.”

Appian said it plans to recover the full extent of its losses, including all interests accumulated since January 2022, when Sibanye walked away from the deal. A hearing to determine the exact amount of these damages is scheduled for November 2025, the company said. 

Should Sibanye fail to pay the full amount awarded in the trial, Appian said it would pursue all available enforcement measures.

Atlantic Nickel’s Santa Rita open pit mine in the Brazilian state of in Bahia is one of the few long-life nickel sulphide mines currently in production. It also yield copper, cobalt, and platinum group metals as by-products. The company is advancing the mine’s underground extension as it transitions from open-pit to underground operations. This shift to higher-grade nickel is expected to boost production rates and extend the mine’s operational life to over 20 years.

Source: MINING.COM – Read More