Sandfire takes ethical group to court

Sandfire Resources has filed proceedings in the Federal Court against the Centre for Australian Ethical Research over media releases published on its website last month, which Sandfire argues contained “misleading and deceptive” information.

In a statement to the ASX late yesterday, Sandfire said the media releases contained corporate profiles by CAER which analysed the environmental, social and governance practices of it and other companies.

“Sandfire alleges that the media releases contain representations which were misleading or deceptive concerning the research methodology and process followed by CAER in preparing the profiles, as well as the accuracy and fairness of the profile it provided in relation to Sandfire,” the company said.

Sandfire, which is led by managing director Karl Simich, is seeking a formal retraction of the media releases, which has not yet come.

CAER has removed the media releases from its website.

Sandfire said it was not prepared to make any further statements in relation to the matter now that it was before the court.

Sandfire is one of several companies the Australian National University has offloaded its holdings in as part of a divestment of its fossil fuels share portfolio.

The university has also offloaded holdings in Iluka Resources, Independence Group, Newcrest Mining, Oil Search, Santos and Sirius Resources.

Shares in Sandfire were 0.57 per cent higher at $5.25 per share at 12:30pm.