Summary

Source: icsid.worldbank.org

I. THE PARTIES

1. The Claimants in this arbitration are Bacanora Lithium Limited ("Bacanora Lithium"), Sonora Lithium Ltd. ("Sonora Lithium"), two companies incorporated in the United Kingdom ("UK"), and Ganfeng International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. ("Ganfeng International"), a company constituted in the People's Republic of China (jointly, the "Claimants").

2. The Claimants bring claims on their own behalf and of behalf of Minera Sonora Borax, S.A. de C.V. ("Borax") and Bacanora Chemco S.A. de C.V. ("Chemco") under two agreements: the Agreement Between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the United Mexican States for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments ("Mexico-UK BIT") and the Agreement Between the Government of the United Mexican States and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments ("Mexico-China BIT") (jointly, the "Treaties"). Their claims are related to seven mining concessions in the Sonora Lithium Project, a lithium extraction project based in the northern state of Sonora (the "Project").

3. The Respondent in these proceedings is the United Mexican States ("Mexico" or the "Respondent", indistinctly).

4. The Claimants and the Respondent are jointly referred to as the "Parties".

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VI. DECISION

92. Based on the above considerations, the Tribunal:

(i) Rejects the Respondent's Request in its entirety;

(ii) Orders that, as of the date of this Procedural Order, the proceedings be conducted in accordance with "Scenario 2" of the Procedural Timetable at Annex B of Procedural Order No. 1 ("Request for Bifurcation filed and denied");

(iii) Invites the Parties to reach an agreement on the outstanding deadlines in "Scenario 2" of the Procedural Timetable, including hearing dates, and submit a joint proposal to the Tribunal within 30 days;

(iv) Defers its decision on the costs associated with the Request;

(v) Dismisses all other requests.

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