Clive Palmer's appeal dismissal by Federal Court welcomed by Citic Pacific
Posted
Citic Pacific has welcomed the Federal Court's dismissal of Clive Palmer's attempt to gain control of a Pilbara iron ore port, ending what it said was a distraction to getting its operations on a more stable footing.
Three judges yesterday rejected an appeal by the former federal MP's company Mineralogy against a 2015 judgement that termination notices he had issued against Citic were without substance.
Mineralogy had been attempting to stop Citic exporting iron ore from the Cape Preston Port near Karratha and gain control of the port facilities.
Citic exports magnetite concentrate to Chinese steel mills as part of its $10-billion-plus Sino Iron project.
Mineralogy and Citic agreed in 2010 that Citic would be the terminal operator at the port, and Mineralogy would be the harbourmaster, leading Citic to invest more than $6 billion in the Sino project.
But two years later Mineralogy claimed Citic was in breach of facility's deeds, and issued it with four termination notices.
But then-federal justice James Edelman found in his primary judgement the termination notices "did not allege any genuine breach" and in many aspects were "farcical".
The Federal Appeals Court has now upheld that ruling.
"The argument for the state and the Citic parties must be accepted," the three judges said in their judgement.
"The primary judge was correct in concluding that there was no doubt under the State Agreement (and proposals to which it refers) that the Citic parties, not Mineralogy, were solely responsible for the operation and maintenance in the Circled Area."
A Citic spokesman said the appeal court had affirmed its view that Mineralogy had no right to operate the port.
"We've invested heavily in this infrastructure and it's critical to our operations," the spokesman said.
"Having to deal with such matters is a distraction from our main objective — putting Sino Iron on a sustainable footing, both economically and operationally.
"Mineralogy's litigious approach continues to undermine these efforts.
"We still face many challenges. The cooperation and commitment of all stakeholders is vital if Sino Iron is to reach its full potential."
Citic was awarded costs.
Topics: mining-rural, courts-and-trials, karratha-6714, wa
