Reprieve for International Tin Association in libel case

摘要

A Ugandan court has found in favour of the International Tin Association (ITA), which represents industry professionals and sets traceability standards, against British ITA member Kerilee Investments. On 29 April, Kampala High Court judge Andrew Bashaija accepted the ITA's request to dismiss Kerilee's defamation suit on the ground that it lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case, not least because the emails at the heart of the dispute were sent from British IP addresses. For its part, Kerilee had argued that the matter should be dealt with in Uganda because that is mainly where the company mines and sells tin. Kerilee, run by Briton Brian Beckett and operating the Ugandan Nyamuliro mine, where tungsten as well as tin are extracted, decided to sue the ITA after the association referred, in emails sent to members in late 2017 and early 2018, to production chain traceability suspicions about 18 tonnes of tungsten concentrates mined at Nyamuliro. Given the volume in question, there was a suggestion conflict minerals were involved.