PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed engineering and construction provider Aerison Group has lodged a formal dispute with iron-ore giant Roy Hill, claiming the miner owes A$47.5-million for services rendered.
Aerison was awarded a design and construct contract for the Roy Hill saline water reserve osmosis desalination plant (SWRO), with the contract being executed in October 2021 and Aerison starting site activities in February of last year.
The company told shareholders on Friday that commercial discussions had been ongoing with Roy Hill in an attempt to settle the outstanding amount owed to Aerison, however, no agreement had been reached, leaving Aerison with no alternative but to invoke a formal dispute.
“Over the past six months Aerison has been working with Roy Hill to reach a mutually agreeable outcome on outstanding matters that adequately reflects the value of the work completed to date,” said Aerison MD and CEO Giuseppe Leone.
“Our move to invoke the dispute clauses contained within the contract was a last resort in an attempt to protect the interests of the company and our team, supply chain, contractors and shareholders. While it is disappointing that this matter has not been able to be resolved to date, we will continue to work to resolve the current issues between the parties promptly and in good faith.”
If the parties are unable to resolve the dispute, the process will move to arbitration.
Roy Hill was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.