Atlas, GAM in Wodgina lithium dispute
Nick Evans - The West Australian on August 31, 2016, 6:56 am
Atlas Iron has been dragged into the legal disputes surrounding Mineral Resources’ push to establish a foothold in the emerging Pilbara lithium sector.
Global Advanced Metals (GAM) is selling the Wodgina tantalum and lithium project to MinRes for an undisclosed sum.
Atlas has been mining iron ore on the same Wodgina tenements since 2010, after acquiring the iron ore rights on the ground in a company-making deal in 2008.
GAM took Atlas Iron to the Supreme Court yesterday in a bid to hurry up the close of the MinRes deal.
Lawyers for GAM told the Supreme Court that Atlas’ consent to the reassignment of its agreements over infrastructure and iron ore was needed for the sale to close. They asked the Court for help in setting a firm timetable for the iron ore miner to sign off on the agreement.
While the court was told discussions have been ongoing since the sale was announced in late June, yesterday’s court hearing surrounded a disputed request by Atlas to see the full details of the agreement between Mineral Resources and GAM.
Atlas had been provided with a heavily redacted version of the agreement, which its lawyers argued did not give enough information to ensure the sale could have no impact on their rights.
Lawyers for Atlas told the Court they saw no need for a court-imposed timetable on the matter, given the company had intended to consent to the deal and believed the remaining matters could be thrashed out through negotiation.
Mineral Resources is not a direct party to the legal action, although the company was represented in court yesterday.
Justice Paul Tottle declined to issue specific orders, but asked the parties to consider formal mediation to solve their differences
