The Supreme Court has thrown out attempts by Clive Palmer’s private company to discover more documents ahead of its long-awaited trial next month against China's CITIC.
The Supreme Court has thrown out attempts by Clive Palmer’s private company to discover more documents ahead of its long-awaited trial next month against China's CITIC.
Mineralogy’s discovery application was the latest among many legal skirmishes between the two companies.
It concerned the technical model (the Whittle model) used by CITIC to prepare its optimised pit shell for the proposed 3 billion tonne ore mine at its Sino Iron project in the Pilbara.
This was a key part of the 2023 mine continuation plan (MCP) submitted by CITIC to Mineralogy, which holds the tenements mined by CITIC.
Mineralogy’s asserted refusal to approve the MCP is at the centre of the legal action between the two parties.
Justice Michael Lundberg rejected its application for discovery, which he observed was the latest of many.
“Indeed, there is little doubt that Mineralogy has, on a consistent basis, made requests to the plaintiffs for the production of documents,” he said.
Justice Lundberg said he would refrain from making any findings on the reasonableness of the requests.
However, he did say the latest application “must be seen against the backdrop of numerous requests for information of a similar nature which have been made by Mineralogy”.
He questioned the rationale for the application, lodged by law firm Robinson Nielsen Legal.
“I must say I was unable to clearly grasp precisely what Mineralogy asserts is its difficulty with, or line of challenge in relation to, the optimised mine pit shell prepared by the plaintiffs for the proposed 3 billion tonne mine pit,” he said.
“The pleadings and particulars do not assist in this regard.”
He speculated that, at best, the technical model could be used by Mineralogy for its own sensitivity analysis.
“In the absence of any clearly articulated basis in the pleadings for the discovery of the Whittle model, I am left to conclude the request is a fishing expedition and, as such, ought not be granted.”
The main trial, due to commence on 27 April, stemmed from an application by CITIC.
It has claimed the failure of Mineralogy to approve its MCP has adversely affected its ability to continue operating the Sino Iron project, in which it has invested some $10 billion.
CITIC said its production of magnetite concentrate fell from 21 million wet tonnes (mwt) in 2023 to 14mwt in 2024 because of constraints it faced, particularly around access to land for waste rock and tailings storage.
The trial over the MCP is one of several disputes between Mineralogy and CITIC before the courts.
