ENRC, Zamin set for London court clash over Brazil mine next year

By Andrew Winterbottom and Kirstin Ridley

LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Two mining companies in a spat over a Brazilian iron ore project are set to battle it out in a London court in early 2016.

A London high court judge on Friday set a trial date of late January next year for the case, which pits Kazakhstan's Eurasian Natural Resources Company (ENRC) against former joint venture partner in the project, Indian tycoon Pramod Agarwal's Zamin Ferrous.

Both sides have been at odds since last June, when a Zamin subsidiary sued ENRC, owned by three Kazakh businessmen and the Kazakh government. The lawsuit said ENRC failed to pay a final $220 million tranche of their purchase of the project in 2010.

ENRC counter-sued in December for the repayment of a $65 million loan to the subsidiary, Ardila Investments N.V., that it says was part of the original sale.

"We are pleased that our case has come to court ... The contracts are clear cut and we look forward to the court deciding as to the merits of our case," said Angus Macdonald, a spokesman for Zamin.

No-one at ENRC was available to comment.

Central to the trial will be ENRC's allegation that a port installation licence issued by Brazil's Federal Environmental Agency (IBAMA) in December is illegitimate. Reuters reported on Thursday that Brazil's public prosecutor is seeking an injunction on the licence.

Zamin denies issue with the licence and alleges that ENRC is already extracting a commercially viable quantity of iron ore from the mine. Both the port licence and profitable extraction are triggers for ENRC to hand over the $220 million.

The Pedra de Ferro iron ore project is located in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia. Sale of the mine, with reserves estimated at 470.5 million tonnes, was agreed when the price of iron ore was more than double the current $65.90 per tonne.

(Editing by David Evans)