million Swiss francs regarding the Simandu Case He is currently in the process of appealing the verdict in the Geneva Court of Appeals. On 14 February 2022 the Brazilian mining company Vale SA dropped a $1.2 billion claim against individuals and entities linked to Beny Steinmetz. Controversies Guinea and the Simandou deposit In 2013 Steinmetz was falsely accused by French newspaper Le Canard Enchainé of hiring French, Israeli and South African mercenaries to topple the government of Guinea. Steinmetz sued the newspaper for libel. In September 2018, because the paper could not prove the authenticity of the sources, it claimed to cite (the CIA and its French equivalent), the French court of appeals ruled that the newspaper defamed Steinmetz and his company. The paper and the journalist behind the article had to pay a total of 50,000 euros and publish corrections in the Canard Enchainé as well as three other major newspapers. Beny Steinmetz had been involved in a long-running dispute with the government of the Republic of Guinea surrounding the development of Simandou Blocks 1 & 2, part of one of the world's largest iron-ore deposits. In December 2008, a three-year exploration permit to prospect for iron ore in Simandou, was awarded to BSGR Guinea, after the government of Guits to mine the northern half of Simandou to Steinmetz for $160 million. Steinmetz then soon sold a 51% share to Vale for $2.5 billion. The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI investigated BSGR's acquisition of the rights to extract half of the iron ore deposits at Simandou, due to illegitimate concerns. BSGR denied these allegations and in an interview to the New Yorker, Steinmetz said: “We are the victims. We have done only good things for Guinea, and what we’re getting is spit in the face." In April 2014 the Guinean government accused BSGR of obtaining the Simandou mining rights by paying bribes to the wife of then-president Lansana Conté in 2008, and that the rights would be stripped from BSGR and its partner Vale S.A. In September 2014 BSGR started an international arbitration proceeding against the Republic of Guinea in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, challenging the government's decision to revoke its mining rights. In February 2019, BSGR together with Guinean President Alpha Condé agreed to drop the pending arbitration case and all allegations of wrongdoing.[1] As part of the agreement, BSGR would relinquish its