Cazaly row: Tenements to go onlineJOHN PHACEASWA's Department of...

Cazaly row: Tenements to go online

JOHN PHACEAS

WA's Department of Industry and Resources is already moving to head off any repeat of the Shovelanna tenement dispute, confirming it plans to introduce an online tenement renewal system.

A Department spokeswoman said yesterday DoIR had begun a complete overhaul of its minerals titles database 18 months ago that was scheduled for completion by December next year.

That overhaul would include the capability to lodge all tenement renewals electronically, thereby eliminating the requirement to physically lodge paper documents with the department, she said.

Similarly, amendments to the Mining Act which came into effect in February also meant companies could now lodge tenement renewals in any Mining Registrar's office, rather than the office in the same district as the particular tenement, she said.

The Shovelanna dispute was sparked last August when Rio Tinto failed to renew its lease over the rich iron ore deposit before it expired. Though it paid the renewal fees and sent the relevant documents to an overnight courier more than a week before they were due, the courier failed to deliver the renewal papers to the Marble Bar Registrar in time.

Exploration minnow Cazaly Resources then pegged what was technically vacant ground, sparking an eight-month David and Goliath battle for the rights to the deposit.

Those rights were returned to Rio Tinto last Friday, when Resources Minister John Bowler controversially ruled that Cazaly's application be terminated "in the public interest" even though Rio has kept the project in mothballs for two decades and Cazaly had struck a deal to sell all ore to BHP Billiton within three years of winning the tenement.

Cazaly shares have since plunged, and the company is preparing action in the Supreme Court to secure a judicial review of the decision. Cazaly is also seeking full access to all documents relating to Mr Bowler's decision under Freedom of Information laws and a written explanation of the decision from the Minister himself.

Mr Bowler has so far refused to provide any explanation for his ruling, and a spokesman yesterday said no comment was likely now that the matter was before the courts.

External legal experts are uncertain of Cazaly's legal chances of overturning Mr Bowler's decision given it was made according to his wide-ranging discretionary powers as minister.

Hugh McLernon, of specialist litigation funder IMF (Australia), said any challenge to Mr Bowler's discretionary power to make such a ruling would be extremely hard to press.

Another senior Perth mining lawyer, who declined to be named, said he was surprised the minister had not instead let the Warden's Court decide which application for the Shovelanna tenement should be approved, given Rio's original lease had lapsed and it had made a new application over the ground shortly after Cazaly.

Such a move would have resulted in a transparent court case open to the public rather a "behind the scenes" process, and would also lead to a clearer interpretation of "the public interest".

University of WA mining law expert Professor Richard Bartlett told ABC Radio that Mr Bowler merely had to be "satisfied on reasonable grounds" that his decision was in the public interest.