U.S. Court Dismisses Rio Tinto Lawsuit Against Vale

By Stephen Dockery 

A U.S. District Court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by Rio Tinto PLC alleging that Vale SA conspired with an Israeli billionaire to take Rio Tinto's mining concessions in West Africa, with the court finding the events were outside the statute of limitations.

The civil suit by the London-based mining company alleged that Brazilian mining company Vale worked with Israeli billionaire Benjamin Steinmetz and his mining company BSG Resources Ltd. starting in December 2008 to illegally take Rio Tinto's mining rights in Guinea.

Judge Richard Berman in the Southern District of New York decided Rio Tinto's suit came too far after the alleged misconduct occurred to seek damages. He wrote the "claim is outside of the four-year civil RICO statute of limitations and is, therefore, time-barred."

Jonathan Blackman from law firm Cleary Gottlieb, representing Vale, described the suit as "an effort by a competitor to take advantage of the corruption scandal in Guinea."

"It's gratifying the court saw through that and agreed with us that as a legal claim the case had no merit," said Mr. Blackman.

Rio Tinto and BSG Resources weren't immediately available for comment.

The case revolved around the high-stakes and heavily scrutinized acquisition of iron ore mining concessions from the government of Guinea. An investigation carried out by the Guinean government said BSG Resources had obtained the rights improperly. BSG said previously there "is no evidence linking BSGR and its employees to corruption in Guinea."

In the civil lawsuit Rio Tinto claimed bribes were paid to government officials to win the lucrative concessions. The suit also alleged Vale engaged in a corporate betrayal to help Mr. Steinmetz's company take the concessions from Rio Tinto.

BSG Resources and Vale said those claims had no merit.

Write to Stephen Dockery at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 20, 2015 12:09 ET (17:09 GMT)

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