Clive Palmer wins new battle in Citic war
Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer looks set to extract another hefty cheque from his estranged Chinese business partner following his latest legal win.
Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer looks set to extract another hefty cheque from his estranged Chinese business partner following his latest legal win.
Western Australia’s Supreme Court found the case brought by Chinese conglomerate Citic – seeking an order that would have compelled Mr Palmer and his private company Mineralogy to hand over more land in and around Citic’s Sino Iron mine in WA’s Pilbara – had failed.
Citic had launched the claim after Mineralogy refused to allow the Chinese company to expand crucial infrastructure such as a tailings dam and stockpiles. It had warned that the inability to expand its footprint could jeopardise the future of the mine, which already pumps hundreds of millions of dollars of royalties into Mr Palmer’s pockets each year.
Justice Kenneth Martin, who has overseen many of the other numerous legal battles between the two parties, quoted a line from Macbeth – “I’ll fight till from my bones my flesh be hacked” – when describing the “seemingly never-ending civil litigation war” between the two groups.
He said a “fog of war” had prevailed for too long between the parties, who had behaved towards each other “in surprisingly uncommercial ways over time”.
“By that mutually hostile conduct, they now expose to some jeopardy the health of a precious project goose – that has laid golden eggs for many,” he wrote
Mr Palmer had demanded $750m from Citic for any further land access and now looks set to collect another significant payment following the judgment.
Justice Martin wrote that Citic’s request for additional tenure areas from Mineralogy with no additional payment in return was not reasonable.
Citic said the decision meant there was now a pathway that should enable it to seek approval of a proposal for extension of the mine pit and expansion of waste rock and tailings storage.