Eco Oro Seeks Annulment of ICSID Tribunal Decision on Damages and Announces US$4.5 Million Financing
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eco Oro Minerals Corp. (CSE:EOM) ("Eco Oro" or the "Company") announces it has filed an application to annul the damages award issued on July 15, 2024 (the "Award on Damages") awarding no monetary compensation to the Company by the arbitral tribunal (the "Tribunal") constituted under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID") in its arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Colombia (ICSID Case No. ARB/16/41). In conjunction therewith, the Company also announces a US$4.5 million financing to support the annulment process and fund ongoing operations.
Annulment Filing
The annulment request is made pursuant to Article 52 of the ICSID Convention, citing material deficiencies in the Tribunal's decision, including:
Contradictory Reasoning: The Tribunal found Colombia breached its treaty obligations causing the total loss of Eco Oro's investment but awarded no damages arising from that breach.
Procedural Injustice: The Tribunal imposed an unreasonable evidentiary burden on Eco Oro, acknowledging that the reason Eco Oro could not meet the evidentiary burden was because of Colombia's failure to delimit the protected páramo zone.
Excess of Powers: The Tribunal failed to exercise its jurisdiction to assess and award damages, and failed to apply its own Liability Decision when assessing damages.
Eco Oro asserts that the Award on Damages is legally unsound and seeks annulment as well as cost recovery. The Company may expand on these grounds in future submissions.
Under the ICSID Convention, the annulment application will be reviewed by a three-member ad hoc committee appointed by the Chairman of the ICSID Administrative Council. The annulment proceeding is anticipated to take approximately 18 to 36 months from the date of registration.
The Executive Chair of the board of directors of the Company (the "Board"), Courtenay Wolfe, stated:
"Eco Oro disagrees with the Tribunal majority's Damages Award issued on July 15, 2024, which is internally contradictory and disregards the evidentiary record. The Company files this annulment application with firm conviction that the ICSID system offers a critical mechanism to correct precisely the type of errors made by the Tribunal here. Eco Oro trusts that an objective ICSID ad hoc Committee will see the fundamental flaws in the Damages Award, which would pave the way for the Company to pursue a new damages award that reflects the compensation rightfully owed to Eco Oro for Colombia's breaches of international law."
Private Placement
To support its arbitration efforts and fund ongoing operations, Eco Oro has entered into an investment and backstop agreement (the "Investment Agreement") with GrayWolfe Capital SEZC ("GrayWolfe") and certain other investors pursuant to which the Company has launched a private placement (the "Private Placement") of US$4.5 million of contingent value rights certificates ("2025 CVRs"), to ...
