Court summary - can someone provide, page-401

Kidman Resources and Marindi Metals exchange blows in court over lithium rights

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Kidman Resources and Marindi Minerals are in dispute over the lithium rights at the large Early Grey deposit in WA. Erin Jonasson
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by Tess Ingram
Marindi Metals' allegedly "utterly appalling behaviour" in trying to secure the lithium rights over Kidman Resources' Mt Holland project should negate its claim to seize access to the ground, the Supreme Court of Western Australia has heard.

Marindi, run by veteran mining executive Joe Treacy, asserts Kidman agreed during a series of emails and text messages in April 2016 to sell Marindi the lithium rights over its Mt Holland project in Western Australia for $100,000 cash and $175,000 in Marindi shares.
Mt Holland houses the large Early Grey lithium deposit, the significance of which was subsequently revealed to the gold-focused Kidman.

Kidman insists it never had a binding agreement with Marindi.

The lawyer representing Kidman, Grant Donaldson SC, asserted before Justice Kenneth Martin that Marindi had "unclean hands", primarily because of the delay between the April discussions and a letter of demand in November.
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"The plaintiff knowingly did nothing while various issues were announced and done," Mr Donaldson said, pointing to the fact both companies had raised equity during that period.
Kidman shareholders who had participated in the company's $21 million raising in August would be "astonishingly disappointed" if it transpired Marindi had long held the lithium rights at Earl Grey, Mr Donaldson said.

Mr Donaldson also alleged some of Marindi's directors had engaged in "utterly appalling behaviour" to convince Kidman to sign an agreement – including sending a text message to Kidman boss Martin Donohue warning Marindi would announce the matter to the market the following day if it did not receive a "positive proposal" from Kidman and backgrounding a journalist at The Australian Financial Review to expose Kidman's alleged inaction. An article based on the briefing was never published.
Claims refuted

"This is commercial behaviour that is nothing more than a threat that 'we will use an ASX announcement to damage you unless you give us what you want'," Mr Donaldson said.
Martin Bennett, representing Marindi, refuted the claims, arguing that numerous parts of Mr Donaldson's "unclean hands" assertion "fell apart".

Mr Bennett said Mr Donaldson could not assert Marindi deliberately timed the announcement of its claim over the rights to the market to coincide with Kidman's November annual meeting without asking that of Marindi's directors during cross-examination.

Separately, Mr Bennett said the suggestion the agreement was incomplete because it did not outline the tenements in question was "wholly deficient".

Using Kalgoorlie's famed Super Pit gold mine as an example, Mr Bennett said an agreement to acquire the Super Pit would not require a list of tenement numbers "to have certainty in what we are buying".

"The market knows what the Mt Holland gold fields is, we don't have to give you a list of 59 tenements," Mr Bennett said.

The hearing was expected to close on Wednesday afternoon.

AFR

Pretty much a repeat of what has been written so far.