Shaft Sinkers28 Jan 2015 12:41
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Separate arbitration proceedings are under way in Switzerland between EuroChem and Shaft Sinkers. In that case, EuroChem claims damages of $800m, alleging that Shaft Sinkers hid a report which EuroChem argues says that the excavation of the mine shaft could not be completed using the technique Shaft Sinkers proposed. EuroChem also claims Shaft Sinkers paid bribes to an employee of EuroChem to cover up problems encountered during the excavation work at Eurochem’s Gremyachinskoe potash mining project in Russia.
Shaft Sinkers was contracted in 2008 to construct a mine shaft at the potash mine, but ran into technical problems. The contract was terminated in April 2012. EuroChem restarted the shaft construction last year using a different provider and a different method from the one Shaft Sinkers had employed, according to Eurochem’s website.
The Swiss arbitration proceedings are secret, but defence arguments made on behalf of IMR in the Dutch case stated that EuroChem had misinterpreted the findings of the report into Shaft Sinkers’ proposed excavation methods and that the EuroChem employee to whom bribes were allegedly paid had a consultancy agreement with Shaft Sinkers which he had cleared with his employers.
Both Shaft Sinkers and IMR deny any wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Shaft Sinkers said: “Shaft Sinkers completely rejects EuroChem’s unfounded allegations.”
A spokesperson for EuroChem said it could not comment on the ongoing court proceedings.