High Court of Australia dismisses Bayan?s appeal

By Romel S. Gurky

ASX-listed coal upgrading company White Energy Company Limited (WEC) said Wednesday that the High Court of Australia has dismissed IDX-listed coal miner PT Bayan Resources Tbk?s appeal to earlier court ruling over its dispute with WEC.

Bayan?s appeal was heard before the Full Court of the High Court of Australia in August 2015.

?The High Court of Australia has today unanimously dismissed Bayan?s appeal. An order has been made that Bayan pay BCBCS? costs of the appeal,? WEC said in a statement referring to its Singapore-registered subsidiary BCBC Singapore Pte Ltd.

?The effect of today?s judgment is that the freezing orders will remain in place unless and until there is a further order made by the Supreme Court. The company expects that the freezing orders will remain in place until after the conclusion of the proceedings against Bayan in the SICC,? the statement said.

WEC and Bayan have been engaged in a legal dispute after the latter unilaterally terminated in 2012 a joint venture company called PT Kaltim Supacoal, which was 51 percent owned by WEC and 49 percent by Bayan, set up in 2006 to construct, commission and operate a 1million-ton per annum coal upgrading plant at Bayan?s Tabang coal mine in East Kalimantan.

WEC then filed a lawsuit against Bayan in Australia. The Supreme Court of Australia ruled in 2012 in favor of BCBCS Singapore, which made freezing orders in respect of Bayan?s 56 percent shareholding in ASX-listed mining firm Kangaroo Resources Ltd. Since then Bayan has launched efforts to challenge the ruling.

WEC has also previously announced the proceedings commenced by certain of its subsidiaries, including BCBCS, in the High Court of the Republic of Singapore against Bayan.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak