UK: Case over alleged wrongful gold classification from Tanzania to proceed to trial after LBMA drops jurisdictional challenge
"London gold body drops jurisdictional challenge in Tanzania labelling case," 17 June 2024
The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has dropped a jurisdictional challenge in a case which claims it wrongly classified gold from a Tanzanian mine as responsibly sourced, despite allegations of human rights abuse.
The LBMA is being sued by the families of two 23-year-old men killed at the North Mara Gold Mine.
The families allege the LBMA wrongly classified gold from the mine as being free from serious human rights abuses.
Their law firm, Leigh Day, said North Mara Gold Mine has seen at least 77 deaths and 304 injuries reported at the hands of police and security guards since 2006.
The LBMA had initially argued that the case should be heard in Tanzania rather than the UK.
However, Leigh Day said Tanzanian courts are more difficult for victims of human rights abuses to get their cases heard in...
As a result, Leigh Day said it will pursue the case in the UK High Court...
An LBMA spokesperson said: “The LBMA is a not-for-profit member-based association which provides accreditation to refiners of gold and silver via LBMA’s Good Delivery List... Our role is to support raising standards around human rights in the supply chain. LBMA will be defending the substance of the claim when we proceed to trial.”