Solomon Islands Court Revokes Axiom's Isabel Project License

Reuters reported that the highest court in the Solomon Islands has ruled that neither Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. (TSE:5713) nor Axiom Mining Ltd. (ASX:AVQ) is entitled to the license for the Isabel nickel project.
Axiom is currently in a trading halt, and Managing Director Ryan Mount told Reuters that the company plans to appeal the court’s decision. For its part, Sumitomo said that it will “think about what steps [it] would take next.”
As quoted in the market news:

The Solomon Islands Court of Appeal on Monday rejected a portion of Sumitomo Metal Mining’s appeal that the country’s government should not have canceled its license to develop the Isabel nickel laterite discovery in 2011.
In the same ruling, the Court of Appeal accepted another portion of Sumitomo’s suit by revoking Axiom Mining’s current license for the Isabel site, returning the Isabel discovery to government ownership without restoring the Japanese company’s earlier license.
Japanese miner Sumitomo and tiny Australian explorer Axiom Mining have been fighting over the Isabel discovery since 2011.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.