Reuters reported that a court in Congo rejected a request by First Quantum Minerals to drop legal action against the government and state agencies over the cancellation of one of its copper and cobalt mining projects.

Democratic Republic of Congo cancelled the Canadian miner's USD 500 million Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailings project in August as part of a government review of 61 mining deals. On August 26th and September 3rd 2009, KMT and Congo Minerals Development filed 3 suits against Congo, state miner Gecamines and the mining regulatory agency, CAMI. However, lawyers for KMT and CMD told a court in the capital Kinshasa that the companies no longer wished to pursue the case but were being forced by the defendants to continue.

Mr Nghenda Lukombe a lawyer for Gecamines and CAMI told the court that "When you come before the court you come to defend your request, not to run away from it. It's in our interest that the trial continues. We haven't come before the court to play. We're here to defend ourselves and we want to defend ourselves."

Many analysts expect First Quantum to bring the case before international arbitration in order to defend its investment, while Congo would prefer to have the matter decided in its own court system.

Mr Gregory Mthembu Salter central Africa specialist with the Economist Intelligence Unit said that "First Quantum are less inclined to pursue their chances in a Congolese court and will prefer to go to international arbitration. But it remains to be seen what impact these Congolese court wrangles will have on that prospect."

(Sourced from Reuters)