Ghana is facing a dramatically escalated arbitration claim from Australian gold mining company Cassius Mining Limited, with the dispute now valued at approximately US$905 million as a decisive tribunal hearing approaches in June 2026.
Cassius Mining filed its Reply to Ghana’s Defence Memorial on 31 March 2026, with the updated damages figure reflecting claimed lost profits and the loss of opportunity arising from what the company describes as Ghana’s unlawful refusal to renew its gold prospecting licence in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.
The claim represents a sharp rise from the US$277 million the company lodged with the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) in December 2024. Independent expert firms AMC Consultants in Perth and Secretariat in Washington DC assessed the revised figure, which covers lost profits and damages from Ghana’s alleged breaches of contract and statutory obligations. Rising global gold prices are a central driver of the increase, inflating the projected value of the mining operation Cassius says it was denied the chance to develop.
The Dispute in Brief
The case originates from a Prospecting Licence Agreement (PLA) signed on 28 December 2016, covering a gold exploration area in the Talensi District. Cassius Mining maintains that Ghana’s failure to renew that licence in 2019 deprived the company of the full value and potential profits of its gold project. The Ghanaian government has argued the licence was never valid because it was not ratified by Parliament as required under Article 268 of the 1992 Constitution.
The dispute has wound through multiple legal forums since 2023. In a significant preliminary ruling in February 2024, the international arbitration tribunal determined that the seat of the arbitration is Accra, Ghana, and not London as Cassius had argued, meaning the proceedings fall under the supervisory jurisdiction of Ghana’s High Court and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798). The tribunal also rejected Cassius’s reliance on certain statutory arbitration provisions under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) and ruled that the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Arbitration Rules do not apply.
The June Hearing
The final arbitration hearing is scheduled to take place at the Peace Palace in The Hague in June 2026, representing a critical near-term milestone in the long-running dispute. Ghana’s defence is being handled by State Attorneys working alongside international law firm Foley Hoag, which has expertise in investment arbitration. The State is expected to file a final reply before the hearing, addressing both liability and the substantially increased damages claim.
Conflict of Interest Question
The progression of the case has renewed scrutiny of the position of Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dr Dominic Ayine. During his vetting before Parliament’s Appointments Committee in January 2025, Dr Ayine confirmed he had previously been instructed by Cassius Mining, but assured lawmakers he would not in any manner compromise the interests of the Republic of Ghana. With the claim now tripled in value and the final hearing weeks away, that assurance is once again under public focus.
Legal observers note that the core question is whether adequate institutional safeguards have been put in place, and whether the handling of the defence fully meets the standard of impartiality required of a senior public officer in a dispute of this magnitude.
The outcome of the June hearing will hinge on two central questions: whether Ghana’s conduct regarding the licence amounted to a breach of its legal or contractual obligations, and whether Cassius’s US$905 million valuation can withstand rigorous scrutiny under established investment arbitration principles. For Ghana, the financial and reputational stakes have never been higher in this case.
