J U D G M E N T

1. This is a petition filed under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“1996 Act”) seeking the following reliefs against the respondents:-

“a) Stay the operation of a letter dated 03.03.2025 bearing No.16/MBL/DC/03/2025 issued by Respondents terminating the contract dated 02.11.2017 awarded to the Petitioner;

b) Restrain the Respondents from acting upon/in furtherance to the letter dated 03.03.2025 terminating the contract dated 02.11.2017 awarded to the Petitioner;

c) Stay the operation of letter dated 03.03.2025 bearing No. 15/MBL/DC/03/2025 issued by Respondents to the First Capital Bank seeking invocation/encashment of Bank Guarantee No. 178760690005 amounting to USD 10,535,000/- of First Capital Bank furnished by the petitioner;

d) Restrain the Respondents, its officers, employees, assignees or any person acting under instructions or on behalf of the Respondents from invoking and/or encashing of Bank Guarantee No. 178760690005 amounting to USD 10,535,000/- of First Capital Bank furnished by the petitioner;

e) Stay the operation of letter dated 03.03.2025 issued by Respondents rejecting the bid submitted for Global Open Tender for coal mining operation services No. MBL/TM/2024-25/01 dated 15.07.2024 and/or stay the consequent debarment of the petitioners done by the Respondents;

f) Restrain the Respondents from subsequent coercive actions against the Petitioner;

g) In the event that the Bank Guarantees mentioned in Prayer (a) above are encashed, direct the Respondents to deposit the encashed amount before this Hon'ble Court in the form of an interest-bearing fixed deposit till the outcome of the arbitral proceedings and subject to such outcome;”

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

2. The petitioner i.e., Black Gold Resources Private, Limitada, a special purpose vehicle, was incorporated for undertaking coal mining operations at Benga Coal Mine in Mozambique.

3. The respondent No. 1 i.e., International Coal Ventures Private Limited, has been promoted as a Special Purpose Vehicle by Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Coal India Limited (CIL) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for acquiring coal mines and assets overseas.

4. The respondent No. 2 i.e., Minas De Benga Limitada, is a company entrusted with the functions of handling operation of Benga Coal Mine in Mozambique. It is stated that respondent No. 1 and the respondent No. 2 are part of the same group of companies.

5. The petitioner and the respondent No.2 entered into a Contract dated 02.11.2017 (“the Contract”) for the project of “Coal Mining Operation Services at Benga Mine”, which primarily included extraction of 4.5 million tonnes per annum (+/-20%) i.e., 3,75,000 tonnes per month (+/-20%) of Run of Mine (“ROM”) coal alongwith associated activities (“project”). The Completion Date as per the Contract was 16.02.2023. As per the Contract, the average stripping ratio was about 4.65 Billion Cubic Meters (“BCM”)/tonne of ROM, meaning that for extraction of 1 BCM/ tonne of coal, 4.65 BCM/tonne of overburden i.e., sand, rocks, waste, etc. had to be removed.

6. The General Conditions of the Contract contains an arbitration clause being Clause No. 13.4, which reads as under: -

“13.4 Arbitration

(a) If the Company and the Contractor are unable to resolve the Dispute within 20 Working Days after the senior executive officers first conferring, or within such other period as the Parties may agree in writing, such Dispute shall be finally settled by arbitration in accordance with the following Sub-clauses.

(b) Where the value of the arbitration claim is less than two million United States Dollars (USD 2,000,000), the Dispute shall be submitted to arbitration under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules by a sole neutral arbitrator appointed in accordance with the procedure established in the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. If the Parties are unable to agree on the app