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A graphite company backed by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is moving ahead with its $100 million arbitration case against Guinea, with both of the party-appointed arbitrators now confirmed at the World Bank's investment court.
Falcon Energy Materials, in which Sawiris's La Mancha investment vehicle is the largest shareholder, is seeking compensation for Guinea's May 2025 revocation of the licence for its Lola graphite project in the country's southeast. Africa Business+ reported this week that the case had reached a key procedural step.
Records of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, known as ICSID, show the case, registered as ARB/26/13, was logged on March 31, 2026. British and French arbitrator Peter Turner, nominated by Falcon, accepted his appointment on May 20. Colombian lawyer Fernando Mantilla-Serrano, nominated by Guinea, accepted his on July 16. The ICSID case page did not list a presiding arbitrator when Billionaires.Africa reviewed it.
Falcon is represented by international arbitration firm LALIVE. Guinea has hired Paris-based law firm ASAFO & Co., according to ICSID.
Who owns Falcon
La Mancha holds 19.89% of Falcon and has two seats on its board, according to La Mancha's website. Market data provider MarketScreener puts the stake held by La Mancha Investments at 22.8%. When Falcon closed a C$25 million (about $18 million) private placement in February, the company said La Mancha kept a 24.1% stake on a fully diluted basis.
Sawiris, one of Egypt's richest people and the former chairman of Orascom Telecom, moved his mining investments from La Mancha Holding into a new gold-focused fund in 2021 and became its chairman, Miningmx reported at the time. The fund held about $1.4 billion in assets at launch.
Falcon's other large investors include Coris Capital, the private equity arm of the Coris group controlled by Burkinabe banker Idrissa Nassa, which holds about 7.4%, according to MarketScreener. Coris Capital first invested in the company, then called SRG Mining, in August 2017. Abdoul Nassa, a former business development director at Coris Capital, has sat on Falcon's board since 2017.
Falcon, which trades on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada and brings its claim as an Emirati company, is relying on the 2011 investment treaty between Guinea and the United Arab Emirates.
What Falcon lost in Guinea
Guinea's government revoked the Lola exploitation licence by presidential decree on May 14, 2025, as part of a wider review of mining titles. Falcon said it tried to settle the matter with the Ministry of Mines before filing a treaty dispute notice, and that the government had made clear it would not pay compensation.
The company announced the arbitration on March 16. It put its initial estimate of damages at about $100 million, covering the loss of its Guinean assets and other losses it blames on the government's decisions.
"We are fully prepared to present our claim for compensation in arbitration," Chief Executive Officer Matthieu Bos said at the time. He said a recent capital raise gave the company shareholder support and enough money to cover its legal costs.
A 2022 feasibility study put the cost of building Lola at $185 million, Guinéenews reported. The deposit, about 1,000 kilometers from Conakry near the borders with Ivory Coast and Liberia, was meant to feed Falcon's planned 26,000-ton-a-year graphite anode plant in Morocco, which would supply material for electric vehicle batteries.
Guinea's Ministry of Mines did not respond to Guinéenews's requests for comment when the claim was filed in March, and Billionaires.Africa could not find a public statement from the government on the case.
Falcon is one of several mining investors to take Guinea to ICSID since the government began cancelling licences. Emirati company Axis Minerals filed a claim in December 2025 seeking $28.9 billion over its bauxite operations, according to Agence Ecofin. Guinean news site Guinee360 counted four mining arbitrations pending against the country at ICSID.
Falcon has said it remains focused on its Moroccan anode project while the case proceeds.
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