Despite multiple other businesses exiting Russia after Vladimir Putin launched a disastrous war against Ukraine two years ago,Tigers Realm is still mining and transporting coking coal in sub-zero temperatures from its Russian deposits through its subsidiaries to Asia. All its mining operations occur in Russia,with none of the coal landing in Australia.
In the past year,it reaped a net profit of $46 million.
The company was warned by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in a non-binding finding in March last year that it was likely breaching the Autonomous Sanctions Act,but Tigers Realm launched legal action in June in the hope of having the finding overturned.
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Its lawyers argued that as the miner was only “transporting” the coal within Russia,it didn’t fall within the sanctions.
But Justice Kennett said the word “transports” in the sanctions regulation had its ordinary meaning and applied to Tigers Realm’s operations.
“The activities of the Russian subsidiaries involve actions which constitute ‘sanctioned imports’,” he found.