A U.S. appeals court has refused to enforce a $93 million arbitration award against Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp., ruling the state-owned company remains shielded by sovereign immunity.
In a decision issued July 15, the District of Columbia Circuit said it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over a suit by Amaplat Mauritius Ltd. and Amari Nickel Holdings Zimbabwe Ltd., which sought to turn a 2014 Zambian award into a U.S. judgment. Writing for the court, Circuit Judge Michelle Childs rejected the miners’ argument that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s arbitration and implied-waiver exceptions applied to their claim. Those provisions, she said, cover actions “to confirm an award,” not efforts to recognize a foreign court judgment that has already confirmed one.
The underlying dispute dates to 2008, when Amaplat and Amari agreed to develop nickel and platinum deposits with the Zimbabwean miner. After Harare cancelled the joint venture, the companies won $42.9 million and $3.9 million, respectively, plus interest, in an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration seated in Lusaka. Unpaid for more than a decade, they turned to courts in Zambia, which recognized the award in 2019, and then to Washington in 2022, invoking the District of Columbia’s Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act. 
The three-judge panel drew a sharp line between enforcing an arbitral award and enforcing a judgment that merely confirms one. Because the former is expressly contemplated by the FSIA, while the latter is not, the court said any waiver of immunity “must be narrowly construed.” It also dismissed the companies’ claim that Zimbabwe’s ratification of the New York Convention constituted an implied waiver, noting the treaty governs arbitral awards, not follow-on judgments.
With the U.S. avenue closed, Amaplat and Amari said they would continue efforts to attach Zimbabwean assets in other jurisdictions. The ruling does not affect enforcement actions outside the United States, a company spokesman said in an emailed statement.
Zimbabwean officials welcomed the outcome. “The court has affirmed our position that this matter should not be litigated in U.S. courts,” said Pfungwa Kunaka, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. Lawyers for the state miner did not respond to requests for comment.
