Tanzania dismisses Australian miner seizure threats

Tanzania's Attorney General Eliezer Feleshi has dismissed threats by Australian miner Indiana Resources that it may attach Air Tanzania (TC, Dar es Salaam) aircraft should the Tanzanian government refuse to pay out close to USD100 million in compensation over the loss of a nickel project.

Feleshi told The Citizen newspaper that reports about Indiana Resources' warning were "mere speculation" pending the outcome of arbitration before the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investments Disputes (ICSID) in Washington DC, US.

"We have been going on with submissions since January to date. Once these procedures are completed, an appropriate report will be officially communicated," he said.

Feleshi was responding to comments made by Indiana Resources Executive Chairwoman Bronwyn Barnes, who told ch-aviation that no decision to seize aircraft had been taken, but that the company would consider seizing assets should Tanzania fail to make payment of compensation as directed by ICSID. "This may include planes, although no clear decision has been made about this at the moment. We await the final decision of the arbitral panel," she said.

The case concerns the parties' long-standing dispute over Tanzania's expropriation of Indiana Resources' Ntaka Hill nickel project in southern Tanzania. Indiana Resources first lodged the claim with ICSID in July 2021 for compensation of USD93.7 million plus interest, which continues to accrue.

Indiana Resources is the major shareholder of Ntaka Nickel Holdings Ltd and Nachingwea UK Ltd (both incorporated in the United Kingdom), which historically held the retention licences for the Ntaka Hill nickel project through its 100% owned subsidiary Nachingwea Nickel Ltd.

The Indiana Resources companies lost their license to mine the nickel project after Tanzania 2017 changed its mining legislation, abolishing the legislative basis for the retention licence classification with no replacement classification. The rights over all areas under retention licences were transferred to the government of Tanzania.