Coal mine developer Bathurst Resources is headed to the High Court to fight a claim it owes $US40million ($NZ57million) in performance payments.
In a release to the ASX, Bathurst secretary Jason Hungerford said L&M Coal Holdings Ltd had filed a claim in the High Court, seeking a ruling on whether there was a $US40million payment due to it from Bathurst.
''Bathurst Resources denies that it is in default under the relevant agreements, as is asserted by L&M Coal Holdings, and this position is supported by the legal advice it has received. Bathurst Resources will be vigourously defending the claim,'' Mr Hungerford said.
The dispute stems from two 2010 agreements, including subsequent amendments to each, over the sale and purchase agreements and also a royalty deed.
L&M Coal Holdings once operated under the wider L&M Group in New Zealand and at the time held a large number of coal permits on the South Island's West Coast, but the company was understood to have been sold about a year ago to a Hong Kong-based company.
Mr Hungerford said Bathurst had continued to make relevant royalty payments under the deed and there had been no breach of it, meaning there had been no breach or default under the sale and purchase agreement.
Bathurst, which delisted from the NZX to save cash, has maintained cash flows from the annual production of about 400,000 tonnes of thermal coal for domestic industrial use in the South Island.
Bathurst has been through numerous New Zealand courts in the past, having fought off two years of litigation by environmental groups, over its West Coast consents.
However, during that time global coking coal prices plunged and it could not viably mine export-grade, specialist coking coal.
In November, Bathurst announced it was seeking to raise $31.9million, to fund its 65% share of a $46million joint venture with Talley's group, to buy three Solid Energy coalmines, including Stockton on the West Coast and two in the North Island, near the Huntly power station.
