caz article west australian

Cazaly to access many Rio papers

REBECCA KEENAN

Ambitious iron ore explorer Cazaly Resources has been denied access to details of a private meeting between Rio Tinto boss Leigh Clifford and Alan Carpenter, but will be able to use other documents to further its appeal to win the contested Shovelanna iron ore deposit.
Supreme Court judge Michael Buss yesterday ruled that Cazaly could have access to a range of documents including a key “statement of principles” which Rio Tinto relied on in its defence to win back the deposit.
Cazaly has not seen these documents and says it is unfair that all parties were not privy to the same information.
Rio Tinto will also be forced to hand over a letter from Premier Alan Carpenter, then minister for state development, to Rio Tinto addressing the “statement of principles”.
The global giant must also provide access to evidence of discussions between Rio Tinto and the State Government.
However a private briefing between Mr Clifford and Mr Carpenter, held around the time Cazaly lodged an application for the expired Shovelanna licence, will stay private.
Cazaly pegged the Shovelanna deposit in August last year after Rio failed to renew its lease before it expired. Rio immediately appealed to the Government to return the lease, arguing it would not be in the public interest to hand the lease to a small company with no proved ability to develop such resources.
Former resources minister John Bowler, who made the decision to return Shovelanna to Rio Tinto by terminating Cazaly’s licence, has been ordered to resubmit an affidavit outlining how he made his decision, including what information he relied on.
A number of the documents must be handed over by January 12 next year, while the remaining, less crucial documents must be with Cazaly by January 22, 2007.
Justice Buss ordered that only the legal counsel for Cazaly be allowed to view the documents, despite Cazaly’s counsel maintaining it would struggle to understand the technical aspect of the documents.
Many of the documents are confidential and Rio Tinto wanted to ensure Cazaly did not have access to them. A hearing into the matter is set for March.