PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed NuCoal has launched constitutional proceedings in the Australian High Court to have the New South Wales Mining Amendment Act declared unconstitutional.

Earlier this year, NuCoal lost its rights to explore on its Doyles Creek licence, in New South Wales, after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) identified alleged corruption in the award of the licence to the project’s previous owners.

NuCoal subsequently lodged judicial review proceedings in the New South Wales Supreme Court, challenging the process undertaken by ICAC.

The miner on Thursday filed a writ of summons and statement of claim with the Australian High Court, claiming that the Mining Amendment Act amounted to an exercise of judicial power by the state Parliament, which was prohibited by both the state and federal Constitutions.

NuCoal claimed that the New South Wales Parliament, through the Act, imposed punishment on the basis of ICAC’s findings, which were not made against NuCoal or any of its current directors.

Furthermore, the company claimed that if the state Parliament had the power to pass the legislation, it did so without being in accordance with the law.

The statement of claim filed with the High Court alleges that the Mining Amendment Act deprived NuCoal of its statutory and common law rights, imposed a punishment in the absence of a breach of existing law, and denied the company procedural fairness.

Furthermore, NuCoal said that the Mining Amendment Act was specifically targeted at the company, was improperly retroactive, and destroyed certain rights upon which the company relied in order to guide its affairs.

NuCoal was hoping that the High Court would declare the Mining Amendment Act invalid, allowing the company to resume exploration at Doyles Creek.

NuCoal acquired the Doyles Creek tenement in 2010 from former owner Doyles Creek Mining. The tenement is estimated to contain about 512-million tons of resource, and has a provable ore reserve of 50.9-million tonnes across two target seams. The project comprises an underground mine and an associated training facility.