Clive Palmer has today confirmed that Mineralogy has offered to provide thousands of square kilometres of land to Chinese-owned CITIC Limited and its subsidiaries to further develop the Sino Iron project.
“CITIC have invested $18 billion in the Cape Preston project,’’ Mr Palmer said, “they also have more than $140 billion cash in the bank which is five times the Australian defence force budget and they export more than $2 billion dollars of West Australian resources to China every year.”
“CITIC Ltd continues to mine ore and reap the rewards of hundreds of millions of dollars profit from steel making while still complaining about the profitability of mining ore in Australia,’’ Mr Palmer commented,
He also said that Mineralogy has offered to make land available to CITIC for $750 million, along with its continued royalties based on the WA Supreme Court decision of late last year.
“The problem is the Chinese don’t want to pay for anything. They want the WA Government to take land for free from Australian companies and individuals despite the fact there is a State agreement in place,’’ Mr Palmer said.
“This behaviour undermines the rights and protection of Australians. It severely breaches obligations of the WA Government to Mineralogy under the State agreement, exposing the Western Australian people to large damage claims.”
“All Australians believe in a fair go. We can’t have a situation where land is taken from an Australian company and given to the Chinese for free,” he stated.
Mr Palmer said this was an extraordinary development that undermined the correct political process and needed to be fully investigated at the highest level.
“The situation can be resolved by the Chinese negotiating on commercial terms if they wish to buy our resources or land. Australians need to protect and defend what is ours,’’ Mr Palmer said, “Mineralogy will leave no stone unturned and will not hesitate to uncover any malfeasance occurring in government office.”