Lithium miner Altura Mining on Monday said that it would "vigorously defend" legal proceedings brought by construction and engineering services provider Civmec for the recovery of payment for work undertaken at the Pilgangoora lithium project.
Civmec in 2017 was awarded the civil, construction, fabrication and commissioning work for the Pilgangoora project worth approximately A$64-million.
Civmec noted that during the course of the work, the company carried out substantial additional works beyond the scope of the contract, and also experienced delays because of Altura’s "failure to fulfill its obligations" under the contract, including engineering deliverables and the supply of free issue items.
To date, the contractor has been paid A$61.55-million and is now pursuing final payments in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, maintaining that negotiations with Altura in January 2019 had seen the lithium miner agree to pay Civmec an amount of A$2.4-million to settle the outstanding claims.