Ecuador Internacional

Defunct Canadian Miner Says Ecuador Avoiding $24M Award

Law360 - Bryan Koenig 07/03/2017

A controversial former Canadian mining firm filed a petition in D.C. federal court Friday seeking to confirm a $24.4 million arbitration award against the Ecuadorian government based on the Latin American country's allegedly illegal seizure of two company mines.

Copper Mesa Mining Corp. said that Ecuador has actively worked to avoid paying up under The Hague, Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration panel decision handed down in March 2016 based on the expropriation of the company's Junin and Chaucha projects. But while Ecuador is asking a Hague court to vacate that award, Copper Mesa said that a Netherlands judge has allowed it to pursue confirmation, and that the U.S. federal court must sign off under the New York Convention's international arbitration mandate.

“The New York Convention provides that covered awards must be enforced, absent very specific and limited grounds,” Copper Mesa said Friday, arguing that it anticipates Ecuador's bid, while not yet decided, will be denied.

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