NAC Kazatomprom believes that conflict with Canadian company World Wide Minerals has ended

/Kazakhstan today, March 5, 03/ - National atomic company Kazatomprom believes that conflict with Canadian company World Wide Minerals has ended. Message, which was spread by press-service of NAC Kazatomprom today, March 5, says about it. As was informed before, in 1996 Kazakhstan government and WWM made agreement about giving the northern uranium extracting complex and Virgin mining-chemical combine (CMCC) to the management of WWM. In 1997 WWM turned to the government for the license for selling uranium in the USA, but was refused because uranium from Kazakhstan to the USA was supplied on quotas only. As the result the company stopped production referring to impossibility to sell. Kazakhstan government, in its turn, assumed management of the complex and broke contract with WWM because of non- fulfillment of assumed obligations and gave enterprise's management to Kazatomprom. On May 13 of 1998 WWM brought a suit to US circuit court against Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan committee on state property and Kazatomprom, having raised a claim about illegal refusal to give license for uranium export to the USA and nationalization of the property of WWM in Kazakhstan. Sum of the suit was $29 m. The suit was rejected by the circuit court. As the court noted, the decision to give or not to give export license and nationalize property is the right of Kazakhstan. After that the company turned to US court three times increasing the sum up to $1 bn. all suits were also rejected. On August 8 of 2002 the US Court of Appeal of the district Columbia pronounced the final judgment about rejection of the brought suit of Canadian company World Wide Minerals (WWM) against NAC Kazatomprom. ON February 25 of 2003 the US supreme court refused WWM in appeal of the decision of the Court of Appeal and to hold court examination against Kazakhstan and NAC Kazatomprom. In response to the court's decision president of WWM Paul Carrole spread press-release, according to which the decision was called scandal. "This is the sad day for World Wide Minerals and companies like it, which conscientiously invested into Kazakhstan and other countries, which do not respect the norm of the right. Result of the ignored case is the fact that a sovereign state can refuse to pay legal debts and annul commercial contacts without compensation ", the message says. Besides, it's noted that "the US Supreme Court" did not explain the reasons of the refusal". [2003-03-05]