Political Risk and Its Key Role in Mining Disputes Around the World

Abstract

Political risk has a key role to play in mining disputes – whether it be the catalyst, or trigger, for the dispute, or a risk materializing at some later point in time that may, for example, impact a party’s attempt to resolve the dispute. This article analyses political risk through the following lens: while some jurisdictions may inherently be riskier than others, recent disputes demonstrate that political risk can, and indeed will inevitably continue to, rear its head in the mining landscape across the world. This is evident from three current and prominent mining disputes in Panama, Australia and Ecuador which are discussed in this article, including the role played by political risk in each. Each of these disputes demonstrates the need for, and nuances associated with, understanding, responding to and successfully resolving such disputes – with as little disruption as possible to the underlying project or asset. Mining, Mining disputes, Political risk, Resource nationalism, International arbitration, Panama, Australia, Ecuador