Graphite Dispute: Tanzania High Court Strikes Out KSh 25.31B ($195M) Pula Claim Against MotsepeGraphite Dispute: Tanzania High Court Strikes Out KSh 25.31B ($195M) Pula Claim Against Motsepe

The ruling is dated 9 October. African Rainbow Minerals announced it on 14 October and said it "welcomes the judgment", adding that it has always viewed the Pula claim as "unfounded and fabricated". The grounds for the latest ruling had not been published at the time of writing, so it is not yet clear whether the court again acted on procedural grounds.

What Pula claimed and why it matters

Pula Group LLC and its Tanzanian unit filed the claim in 2023 against Mr Motsepe, African Rainbow Minerals, African Rainbow Capital Investments and ARCH Sustainable Resources. The damages figure comes from a valuation of Pula's losses by Bowline Professional Services, according to Billionaires.Africa.

Pula alleges the Motsepe companies breached a confidentiality and non-compete agreement by investing in Evolution Energy Minerals. Evolution owns the Chilalo graphite project in Tanzania's Lindi region, next to Pula's own graphite project. Pula says it shared project information with African Rainbow Minerals in 2019, when the miner was weighing an investment that never went ahead. Mr Motsepe and his companies have denied the claims throughout.

As Mwenendo earlier reported, South Africa's mining output fell 12.7% in August, a reminder of the pressure on the group's home market while it pursues projects elsewhere on the continent.

An earlier strike-out left the merits untouched

In August, Judge F.M. Mirindo struck out the case because Pula had not joined Evolution and its related companies as parties. That ruling did not decide whether the agreement was breached and awarded no damages. Pula filed a notice of appeal against the whole August decision on 24 August, and its chairman, Charles Stith, said at the time that the company could also refile the case.

Pula had not published a response to the latest ruling when Billionaires.Africa looked for one. A strike-out removes the case from the court's list; it is not a finding on who is right.

A separate South African ruling is already final

Mwenendo earlier reported on how Dangote is planning a KSh 6.48T ($50B) African investment push, and the Tanzanian dispute shows the legal risk that can sit behind cross-border resource deals.

In South Africa, Judge Leicester Adams of the Gauteng High Court ruled in April that African Rainbow Capital was not a party to the 2019 non-disclosure agreement. Pula abandoned its appeal in July, which made that ruling final.

For investors in Chilalo and other East African graphite projects, the practical question is whether Pula's appeal or a refiled case revives the dispute. Until the grounds of the 9 October ruling are public, neither side's account can be tested.