Signage is displayed in the yard during a media tour of the Sibanye-Stillwater Khuseleka platinum mine, operated by Sibanye Gold Ltd., outside Rustenburg, South Africa on Wednesday, Oct. 16 2019. Sibanye said its on track to resume paying dividends next year, should the company settle a wage dispute with platinum-mine workers without too much disruption. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg Shares in Johannesburg-based Sibanye fell as much as 8.9% after the ruling.
The case relates to Santa Rita Mine, a nickel mine, and Serrote Mine, a copper and gold mine, in Brazil. Sibanye-Stillwater was originally gold-focused, but from 2019 adopted a strategy to increase its exposure to metals which are needed for low carbon technologies, including batteries, according to the ruling.
Sibanye offered a combined price of $1 billion for the two mines in October 2021. After the geotechnical event at one of the mines, Sibanye terminated the deal in the following January.
Appian said it will seek to recover the losses in full along with the “significant interest” accrued since January 2022, it said in a statement after the judgment. The UK court will hear arguments on how much damages are owed in November 2025.
Previously Appian said that a localized fracture at Santa Rita wasn’t a “material adverse event” and occurs in the normal course of open pit operations.
The geotechnical event involving a dislocation of part of the slope of a mine, did not lead any injury to life or equipment and did not have adverse regulatory consequences, according to the ruling. The actual cost of the incident and its remediation was about $20 million.
“I am not in any doubt that that was not material,” the judge said comparing the cost with the size of the deal.