MELBOURNE, Aug 14 (Reuters) - China's CITIC Ltd 0267.HK won a case on Friday against Australian billionaire Clive Palmer confirming its control over the port where it is exporting iron ore from its loss-making $10 billion Sino Iron project.
The battle over operation of the Cape Preston port in Western Australia is just one strand in a long-running legal fight centered on royalties CITIC owes Palmer's company Mineralogy on the project, China's biggest overseas mining investment.
A Federal Court judge dismissed all of Mineralogy's claims seeking to terminate CITIC's facilities deeds and take back possession of Cape Preston.
"Many aspects of the termination notices are farcical," Justice Joshua Edelman said in the judgment.
He urged the parties to negotiate a settlement to all their remaining disputes so they can save millions of dollars in legal fees in cases which have been running for more than two years.
"The litigation between the parties, and the assocated uncertainty might last for years," Edelman said.
Mineralogy plans to appeal the decision and is confident of its appeal prospects, a spoksman for Palmer said in an email.
CITIC welcomed the ruling.
"Having made such a significant investment in mining, processing and export infrastructure, we've always been focused on ensuring continuous operations and seeing the project reach its full potential," a CITIC spokesman said in an emailed statement.
CITIC has exported about 4 million tonnes of magnetite concentrate since the Sino Iron project started up in late 2013.