This article by Jørgen Schultz-Nielsen appeared in Sermitsiaq.AG yesterday, Monday 04 December 2023 - 08:33.

Legal heavyweight enters arbitration:
The Danish state and the Self-Government have appointed a legal heavyweight to conduct the historically large arbitration case, which the mining company behind the Kvanefjeld project has brought with a claim for compensation close to DKK 80 billion.

Thomas Rørdam will conduct the arbitration case for Denmark and Greenland, which the Australian mining company has brought.

In September, former Supreme Court President Poul Søgaard passed away at the age of 76.As a result, Denmark and Greenland lost an experienced lawyer who was appointed to represent the two countries in the arbitration case brought by the Australian mining company Energy Transition Minerals after Inatsisartut introduced a ban on uranium extraction.In an information letter from Energy Transition Minerals (ETM), it is stated that Poul Søgaard has been replaced with the former Supreme Court President Thomas Rørdam.Thomas Rørdam took over the post of Supreme Court President after Poul Søgaard back in 2017, but resigned as Supreme Court President back in October 2022 when he reached the age limit of 70 years.
Known from impeachment proceedings
Under great media attention, Thomas Rørdam acted as chairman in the impeachment case, where the former minister Inger Støjberg stood accused.
On behalf of Greenland Minerals A/S, ETM has appointed another heavyweight, the Finn Veijo Heiskanen, who has extensive experience as an arbitrator and specializes in energy and mining.He previously served as Deputy Chief of the Legal Service of the United Nations Compensation Commission.
At the end of the table as chairman sits professor Torsten Iversen. Clarification for January ETM states in the information letter that the arbitration takes place in accordance with the Danish Arbitration Act, but the arbitration case is "ad hoc", which means that it is not supported or administered by an arbitration institution.- This means that there are no detailed rules that deal with issues such as deadlines, says the Australian company, which predicts that the schedule for the rest of the arbitration will not be clear until January 2024.
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