Where parties to a mining tenement option deed use terminology referring to an exploration licence by its registered number, the reference is to the licence as it subsists in area at the relevant time and does not extend to mining lease applications lodged over areas that have been surrendered from the licence. Where mining lease applications (mere expectancies) are lost through breach, damages are properly measured by reference to the prevailing market for trading AMLs at the date of breach, not by reference to the speculative future value of mining leases that might eventually be granted. DCF valuation methodology is unreliable for early-stage mining projects lacking bankable feasibility study data.
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