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South African mining billionaire Patrice Motsepe secured a procedural reprieve in a $195 million legal battle over a Tanzanian graphite project, after the High Court of Tanzania struck the damages suit from its roll.
The court removed the claim brought by U.S.-based Pula Group without ruling on the underlying allegations of intellectual property misuse. Judges found that Pula failed to include two key entities in the action: Australian-listed Evolution Energy Minerals Ltd. and its local operating subsidiary, Ngwena Tanzania Ltd.
The procedural decision leaves the door open for Pula founded by former U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Charles Stith to refile its suit naming the omitted parties, appeal the ruling, or seek a judicial review.
At the core of the cross-border dispute, which began in 2019, is a 24-month non-disclosure agreement signed by Motsepe’s African Rainbow Minerals Ltd. (ARM) while exploring a potential investment in Pula’s graphite assets in southern Tanzania. Pula alleges that proprietary geological, commercial, and strategic data provided to ARM was improperly transferred across affiliated corporate structures and used to finance Evolution’s competing Chilalo graphite project in the same district.
African Rainbow Capital (ARC) and associated entities have consistently denied the claims, maintaining that ARC was not a party to the non-disclosure agreement and never received or utilized Pula’s confidential material.
Despite removing the case on procedural grounds, the Tanzanian court affirmed its jurisdiction over the matter and dismissed arguments that a prior South African court decision resolving liability for one of Motsepe’s investment vehicles bound the local proceedings.
“This is an important judgment because the court has affirmed central elements of the case Pula has advanced from the outset,” Charles Stith, chairman of Pula Group, said in a statement. “It rejected the challenge to Tanzania’s jurisdiction, rejected the attempt to use the subsequent South African proceedings to terminate our case, and made important findings concerning Mr. Motsepe’s controlling interest and capacity to influence ARC.”
The protracted legal wrangling underscores the rising commercial stakes surrounding battery-grade critical minerals across East Africa, where major investment vehicles and junior explorers are competing to secure supply chains for the global energy transition.
