Mineralogy agrees to back off

Clive Palmer’s private company, Mineralogy, has backed off from threats to terminate its agreements with China’s CITIC Pacific Mining, after Citic went to court seeking injunctions against its estranged business partner.

Mineralogy, which argues it has rights to operate the port at Citic’s $10 billion Sino Iron project in the Pilbara, has issued dozens of notices this year purporting to terminate its ‘facilities deed’.

Citic applied to the Federal Court for an interlocutory injunction prevented Mineralogy from acting on these notices, until a trial on the substantive matters at dispute is held in June next year.

In a judgement handed down today, Justice Barker commented that: “Until the recent spate of termination notices and the proposed amendment to the statement of claim, this proceeding in this court appeared to be progressing in a reasonably orderly manner”.

He did not grant the injunction but Citic achieved the outcome it wanted, because Mineralogy has provided undertakings not to act on the notices of termination.

Justice Barker concluded that the “controversy raised by the breaches alleged” in the (termination) notices during September and October has been addressed by Mineralogy’s undertakings.

He added: “I am satisfied that the undertaking proffered by Mineralogy concerning the November 2014 notices is appropriate and will place in abeyance, until conclusion of the trial and the determination of the issues in this proceeding, the termination questions raised”.

Citic recently took similar action in the Supreme Court over dozens of similar notices issued by Mineralogy in regard to the project’s mining operations.

Citic is in a series of disputes with Mr Palmer and his companies, including over a claim that Mr Palmer inappropriately used $12 million deposited in a trust account to operate the port at the Sinto Iron project.