JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Global mining company Vedanta Resources and its Zambian subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines’ (KCM’s) UK court appeal against a decision in favour of 1 826 Zambian villagers is set to get under way next week.
High Court Judge Justice Coulson last year ruled that English courts had jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate the 2015 claims of the Zambian residents, which included allegations of personal injury and damage to livelihoods and lands destroyed by pollution from the Nchanga copper mine owned by KCM.
The Court of Appeal hearing will take place from July 5 to 7 in London.
“The judgment from this hearing will play a significant role in defining the future liability of multinational companies for alleged human rights and environmental abuses abroad,” said London-based lawyers representing the villagers, Leigh Day, in a statement on Thursday.
Leigh Day, which accused the companies of being responsible for polluting their water sources and farmland for over a decade, had argued that UK Courts were the only route for their clients to achieve justice against the mining giants.
Vedanta, at the time, argued that the claims should be brought in Zambia.