Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy offers last-minute peace deal on eve of iron ore showdown against CITIC Pacific

Billionaire Clive Palmer has claimed he will allow Citic Pacific to keep mining at the Sino Iron project less than a week out from a courtroom showdown that was to settle a standoff over the operation’s future. In a sharp about-turn, Mr Palmer on Wednesday declared his company Mineralogy had “now approved” his estranged mining partner’s pleas to submit plans to expand its Pilbara iron ore operations, in a hold-up that is purportedly threatening 3000 jobs and future earnings. The surprise declaration from the mining magnate comes with a WA Supreme Court showdown between the parties over the very issue due to start in a matter of days on Monday 28th. But a peace deal before then seems unlikely. Citic fired back within hours of the claims Mineralogy made in the afternoon, disputing its allegations of “ongoing and persistent failure to provide necessary documents.” “This lack of cooperation put Mineralogy in a difficult position as technical data was required, particularly on the block model and mine pit shell, for the purpose of assessing future mining operations by the Citic parties,” Mr Palmer alleged on Wednesday. “Following receipt of this information on February 24, 2025, and based on the advice of Mineralogy’s technical experts, Mineralogy has now approved Citic’s expansion.’’ In its written retort, Citic claimed it had received a document that contained “pages of unexplained deletions” and removed “much of the content required by the State Agreement.” “At all relevant times, Mineralogy has had all the information required to approve our proposals. At any time in the last 20 months Mineralogy could have submitted our proposals,” Citic claimed. “Mr Palmer’s attempts to blame the delays on Citic are inconsistent with the objective history of the matter. Given that the trial of this matter is currently listed to commence next week, any further comment at this stage would not be appropriate.” Mr Palmer’s Mineralogy holds mining leases for the Sino Iron project near Cape Preston which is run on behalf of Sino Iron and Korean Steel by Citic Pacific Mining, the subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Citic Pacific. The billionaire receives hundreds of millions of dollars a year in royalties paid from the project on land subleased to Sino Iron and Korean Steel under a deal inked between the parties in 2006. Since then a litany of legal battles regarding royalties, contracts and cost blowouts between Mr Palmer and his joint venture partners emerged in connection with the project, all taking place across the Supreme and Federal Court over more than 15 years. Legal proceedings for this particular dispute between the pair started in late 2023, about 10 years after the project started production. The trio have claimed since late 2023 that Mineralogy has refused to cooperate on submitting mine continuation approvals to the State Government to secure more land for waste rock and to extend the mine pit. They argue they are running out of space to accommodate increased production at Sino, which also requires certain sections of the Fortescue River Road to be shifted. Citic alleged Mr Palmer’s refusal to “co-operate” on approvals had forced it to shrink its workforce at the mine, which employs about 3000 people. Output was curtailed by Citic from 21 million wet metric tonnes to 14wmt in 2024. In its statement of claim for the approvals battle Citic and co alleged they had given Mineralogy the opportunity to provide feedback before signing off on mine continuation plans. Against the backdrop of an already strained relationship, written correspondence between the groups escalated as Mineralogy asked for $200,000 to cover the costs involved with the assessment, further details on the proposal, and up to date insurance information. With seemingly no progress made towards a resolution following Wednesday’s developments, the parties will meet in the WA Supreme Court on Monday as planned.