Chinese state-owned miner CITIC has vowed to vigorously defend legal action launched by Clive Palmer's private company over environmental rehabilitation funds for their massive Sino Iron joint venture in Western Australia.
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Mineralogy, which owns the Pilbara land on which the $18 billion CITIC-built and operated project sits, claims CITIC should have put $500 million into a remediation fund.
The litigation comes one business day after CITIC began separate legal action, claiming Mineralogy had refused to join its efforts seeking state government approvals for additional land, including for waste rock and tailings storage facility expansions.
CITIC said it was well aware of its site remediation obligations.
"There's an ongoing dispute with Mineralogy concerning matters associated with these obligations," a spokesman said in a statement.
"It's our view that this is a distraction from the key issue affecting this project - Mineralogy's refusal to support the mine continuation proposals necessary for life-of-mine operations."
CITIC has repeatedly said Mineralogy's refusal to co-operate with the expansion plans threatened the viability of the project.
In November, Mineralogy won a long-running court battle against CITIC over royalty payments from the project.
Australian Associated Press
