Hambledon Mining (LON:HMB) still believes the fines and penalties it has paid to the Kazakh government are “unjustifiable”, it said in a statement.
This comes after its appeal was rejected by the Court of East Kazakhstan Region.
The Court handed down a verbal judgement with a written judgement to follow.
The company’s subsidiary Sekisovskoye Mining Company (SMC) was handed a US$9.5 mln penalty after an alleged minor breach at tailings dam 3 at its Sekisovskoye gold project at the end of October last year.
The National Environmental Department of East Kazakhstan made the claim against SMC for compensation for damage caused to the environment.
Hambledon said it would appeal against the latest decision to a higher level court, the Court of Cassation within the Regional Court of East Kazakhstan.
It is also making arrangements to engage additional legal advisers to support the process as it looks to get back part of the money it has already paid.
Shares slipped 9% to 1.25 pence.