Ruling rejects miner’s bid, favours minister

By KARO JESSE
THE Supreme Court has refused an injunction order sought against Mining Minister Johnson Tuke to restrain him from deliberating on any exploration licence applications over land which is subject of an appeal before the court.
The injunction order was sought by Torrens Mining (PNG) Ltd following an appeal it filed against a National Court decision for refusing its bid for a judicial review on the refusal of its licence application 2557 by Tuke.
The miner, through its lawyer Daken Doiwa, yesterday told the court that the injunction was necessary to avoid prejudice to the company in the sense that Tuke would be restrained from dealing with any licence application from any interested parties over the subject area which would make the appeal futile.
Daken also submitted that Torrens would be prejudiced since its licence application was refused, the boundaries in its application were erased, and two other interested parties were also competing for an exploration licence over the same land.
The subject area of the licence covered the historical mining areas in Central – the area bounded to the north of the Laloki River Valley and Sogeri road, to the east by the Varirata escarpment, the south by the Magi Highway and the Mt Diamond High School access road and to the west by the old Rigo road.
Justice Derek Hartshorn, however, refused the injunction order sought by Torrens by upholding submission by Solicitor-General Tauvasa Tanuvasa which contended that notice of motion filed through which the application for injunction made was incompetent.