Allstate Explorations NL & 2 Ors v Beaconsfield Gold NL & 2 Ors [1999] NSWSC 832

New South Wales Supreme Court CITATION : Allstate Explorations NL & 2 Ors v Beaconsfield Gold NL & 2 Ors [1999] NSWSC 832 CURRENT JURISDICTION : Equity FILE NUMBER(S) : 3089/98 HEARING DATE(S) : 17/06/99, 22/06/99 JUDGMENT DATE : 25 August 1999

Allstate Explorations NL ACN 000 679 023 (First Plaintiff/First Appellant/First Cross-Defendant) Allstate Prospecting Pty Limited ACN 000 809 754 (Second Plaintiff/Second Appellant/Second Cross-Defendant) PARTIES : ACN 070 164 653 Pty Limited (Third Plaintiff/Third Appellant/Third Cross-Defendant) Beaconsfield Gold NL ACN 057 793 834 (First Defendant/First Respondent/First Cross-Claimant) Beaconsfield Operations Pty Ltd ACN 009 493 583 (Second Defendant/Second Respondent/Second Cross-Claimant) Beaconsfield Tasmania Pty Ltd ACN 004 578 750 (Third Defendant/Third Respondent/Third Cross-Claimant) JUDGMENT OF : Santow J

COUNSEL : A W Street, SC/R Pepper (Plaintiffs) J Styring (Defendants) SOLICITORS : Blake Dawson Waldron (Plaintiffs) Phillips Fox (Defendants CATCHWORDS : PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE — Appeal from Master declining to order separate questions to be tried — Principles to be applied in such appeals and in ordering separate questions under Pt 31 r2 Supreme Court Rules — Particular application of those principles to the construction of contracts.; CONTRACTS — Principles of construction — Scope of resort to extrinsic evidence by way of factual matrix — "Ambiguity" an ambiguous term.; EQUITY — Fiduciary obligation of joint venture operator derived from being a fiduciary agent — Relevance of contract when not the fundamental source of the fiduciary obligation. Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) s190(3) ACTS CITED : Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) s82; s118(3) Supreme Court Rules Pt 6 r10; Pt 31 r2 American Home Assurance Co v Ampol Refineries Ltd (1987) 10 NSWLR 13 Bass and Another v Permanent Trustee Co Ltd & Ors (1999) 161 ALR 399 Do Carmo v Ford Excavations Pty Ltd (1981) 1 NSWLR 409 Golosky v Golosky (NSWCA, 5 October 1993, unreported) Hospital Products Limited v United States Surgical Corporation & Others (1984) 156 CLR 41 Jacobson v Ross [1995] 1 VR 337 Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance Co Ltd [1997] 2 WLR 945 CASES CITED : Maunsell v Olins [1975] AC 373 Morrison v Judd (NSWCA, 10 October 1995, unreported) Printing & Kindred Industries Union of Australia v Clarke (Needham J, SCNSW, 17 September 1976, unreported) Rogers v Bailieu Bullock Wilkinson Pty Ltd (1981) 28 SASR 594 Scottish Power plc v Britoil (Exploration) Ltd & others (CA (Staughton,Ottom and Robert Walker LJJ), 18 November 1997, unreported) Singer v Berghouse (1994) 181 CLR 201 Carl Zeiss Stiftung v Herbert Smith & Co [1968] CA 93 Tallglen Pty Ltd v Pay TV Holdings Pty Ltd (1996) 22 ACSR 130 DECISION : Master's decision affirmed that no separate questions to be tried.