Korean electric companies preparing Aussie fake-coal lawsuit

afr.com:

South Korean power companies say they are preparing to sue Australian laboratory giant ALS over claims of fake-coal testing, and are also considering action against miners.

“We are preparing to file a lawsuit in Australia,” Korea Midland Power, known as Komipo, told The Australian Financial Review.

Power companies in South Korea say they are considering an Australian lawsuit over manipulation of coal-testing results.  Bloomberg

The action would escalate the fallout from a scandal involving manipulation of test results of Australian coal marked for export, where the apparent quality of the commodity was lifted for when it is burned in power stations.

Brisbane-based ALS is a $6 billion company that tests items from water to gold. Its coal certification arm suffered a black eye after it admitted in 2020 that between 45 per cent and 50 per cent of results on certificates had been “manually amended without justification” for 13 years.

ALS reformed the division and received market praise for coming clean. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission decided against taking action against the company.

But bitterness lingered and some South Korean power utilities banned ALS from any further testing. The Korea Herald reported last week that subsidiaries of state-operated power utility Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) were rumoured to be examining legal claims against the Australian lab operator.

Komipo is one such subsidiary, and confirmed that it and other companies were looking to sue ALS in Australia.

“Disputes with mining companies are carried out in Korea according to the contract, but there is no explicit provision for this case,” Komipo said.

The level of damages being sought is still be considered.

The laboratory