Hill End Gold Ltd v First Tiffany Resource Corporation [2010] NSWSC 375

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Hill End Gold Ltd v First Tiffany Resource Corporation [2010] NSWSC 375

HEARING DATE(S) : 6-8 April & 26 June 2009

JUDGMENT DATE : 29 April 2010

JURISDICTION : Equity Division Expedition List

JUDGMENT OF : Brereton J

DECISION : Proceedings dismissed with costs with leave to apply for any alternative or additional order

CATCHWORDS : ENERGY AND RESOURCES – Mining for minerals – Mining leases and licences apart from statute – nature of "free-carried interest" where transfer of no force unless approved by Minister – effect of repeal of statute requiring ministerial approval – where transfer required to be in writing – whether writing must post-date statute imposing requirement – ESTOPPEL – Former adjudication and matters of record or quasi of record – Former Adjudication - Judgment inter partes – Res judicata – General matters – whether order of Mining Warden's Court final judgment on merits – whether plaintiff is privy of party to earlier proceedings – CONTRACT – where agreement intended to supersede and replace earlier agreement – where later agreement terminated or abandoned – whether earlier agreement revised – CONTRACT – Conditions – Condition subsequent – failure to obtain stipulated approval renders contract voidable, not void – CONTRACT – Implied – whether to be implied from supposition and reconstruction in context of dispute years after event

(CTH) Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 s 19, s 25 LEGISLATION CITED : (NSW) Interpretation Act 1987 s 30 (NSW) Mining Act 1973 s 107 (NSW) Mining Act 1992 s 160(1), s 297, Sch 6 cl 47

CATEGORY : Principal judgment

Barber v Staffordshire County Council [1996] 2 All ER 748 Blair & Perpetual Trustee Co Ltd v Curran (1939) 62 CLR 464 Brown v Heffer (1967) 116 CLR 344 Butts v O'Dwyer (1952) 87 CLR 267 Carl Zeiss Stiftung v Rayner & Keeler Ltd (No 2) [1967] 1 AC 853 Carl Zeiss Stiftung v Rayner & Keeler Ltd (No 3) [1970] Ch 506 Chamberlain v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation (ACT) (1988) 164 CLR 502 DSV Silo – und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH v Sennar (Owners) (The Sennar (No 2)) [1985] 1 WLR 490 Effem Foods Pty Ltd v Trawl Industries of Australia Pty Ltd (Receivers and Managers Appointed) (in liq) (1993) 43 FCR 510, Fidelitas Shipping Co Ltd v V/O Exportchleb [1966] 1 QB 630 Gange v Sullivan (1966) 116 CLR 418 Gleeson v J Wippell & Co Ltd [1977] 1 WLR 510 Graham v Moree Local Aboriginal Land Council [2004] NSWSC 1178 CASES CITED : Kok Hoong v Leong Cheong Kwen Mines Ltd [1964] AC 993 Linprint Pty Ltd v Hexham Textiles Pty Ltd (1991) 23 NSWLR 508 Maganja v Arthur (1984) 3 NSWLR 561 Marshall v Smith (1907) 3 CLR 1617 McWilliam v McWilliam Wines Pty Ltd (1964) 114 CLR 656 MK and JA Roche Pty Ltd v Metro Edgley Pty Ltd [2005] NSWCA 39 Port of Melbourne Authority v Anshun Pty Ltd (1982) 147 CLR 589 Powell v Wiltshire [2005] QB 117 R v Patents Appeal Tribunal; Ex parte Baldwin & Francis Ltd [1959] 1 QB 105 Ramsay v Pigram (1968) 118 CLR 271 SCF Finance Co Ltd v Masri (No 3) [1987] QB 1028 Spautz v Butterworth (1996) 41 NSWLR 1 Suttor v Gundowda Pty Ltd (1950) 81 CLR 418 Swan Resources Ltd v Southern Pacific Hotel Corp [1983] WAR 39