Bayan files special leave petition

By Romel S. Gurky

IDX-listed coal miner PT Bayan Resources Tbk has filed for a special leave petition with the High Court of Australia over an earlier ruling made by the Court of Appeal of Western Australia in relation to a dispute with a unit of ASX-listed coal upgrading company White Energy Company (WEC).

?On 23 October 2014, BCBCS was served with notice of Bayan?s application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia from the orders made by the Court of Appeal of Western Australia,? WEC said in an update statement referring to its subsidiary.

The Court of Appeal of Western Australia in September dismissed a challenge filed by Bayan over a 2012 ruling of the Supreme Court, which made freezing orders in favor of BCBCS Singapore Pte Ltd, in respect of Bayan?s 56 percent shareholding in Kangaroo Resources Limited, a publicly listed Australian company.

WEC reiterated in the Friday statement that Bayan?s appeal is limited to a challenge to the Supreme Court?s jurisdiction to make these orders. Bayan is not appealing the Supreme Court?s findings that BCBCS had established the elements necessary to obtain a freezing order, including that BCBCS had established that it had a good arguable case:
? in respect of its claims against Bayan for breach of the Joint Venture Deed, and
? to recover damages in respect of at least its lost involvement in the KSC Joint Venture.

WEC and Bayan have been involved in the legal dispute after the latter unilaterally terminated a joint venture company called PT Kaltim Supacoal (KSC) in 2012.

KSC is a JV company owned 51 percent by WEC and 49 percent by Bayan. It was formed in 2006 to construct, commission and operate a 1 million-ton per annum coal upgrading plant at Bayan?s Tabang coal mine in East Kalimantan. The plant had been on trial run when Bayan decided to quit the JV as it was able to sell its 4,200 kcal/kg coal at higher margin to the market than having them fed to the upgrading plant. The company also expressed concerns regarding material handling issue in particular the level of dust generated.

Editing by Riener Simanjuntak