The Western Australian Supreme Court has ordered the Pilbara Ports Authority to hand over a year's worth of internal documents to Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), marking a turn in a legal battle over millions of dollars in contested shipping levies.
The dispute centres on "Channel Charges" at the Port of Ashburton, where the PPA is seeking to recover approximately $17 million in unpaid dues from the Chris Ellison-led miner.
On Feb. 27, Justice Jenni Hill ruled that the PPA must produce all correspondence and internal records from January to December 2024 that illustrate how the authority determined the specific fees.
MinRes, which has rapidly scaled its Onslow Iron operation to a capacity of 35 million tonnes per annum, argues it is not liable for these invoices.
The miner contends that the fees—partially designed to compensate Chevron for its $3 billion investment in the port’s original infrastructure—do not constitute a legitimate port charge.
While the court denied MinRes’s broader request for a decade of correspondence, it granted access to 12 critical documents regarding the state development agreement with Chevron and specific financial records for the Port of Ashburton.
The "discovery mission" follows a previously unsuccessful attempt by MinRes to unpick the private agreements between the State Government and the oil and gas giant.
With the evidentiary skirmish now settled, the parties are preparing for a three-day trial scheduled for late April, which will determine the legitimacy of the "clip" claimed by the PPA and Chevron on Pilbara ore exports.