The Environmental Protection Authority is standing by its decision to pursue a $795,000 costs debt through the courts, owed by would-be seabed miner Chatham Rock Phosphate.
The debt was amassed from Chatham's unsuccessful $30million marine consent application, which was declined in February.
Chatham has already paid $1.86million of the EPA's total $2.66million costs claim.
Chatham has a seabed mining permit but, after it failed to secure the consent, its shares and market capitalisation slumped, trading yesterday at just 0.007c with a $2.85million market cap.
EPA chief executive Dr Allan Freeth said in a statement the EPA had, in good faith, been attempting to recover the debt from CRP outside the court process for several months.
Because the matter was before the courts, the EPA declined an interview with Dr Freeth.
Dr Freeth said the EPA declined Chatham's application to mine seafloor phosphate nodules on the Chatham Rise because it concluded that mining would cause significant and permanent adverse effects on the existing benthic environment.
''The EPA had undertaken a comprehensive review of the unpaid costs to address issues raised by Chatham and considered that the costs were legitimate,'' Dr Freeth said.
However, Chatham's managing director, Chris Castle, said he was ''likely to seek a judicial review'', claiming some costs were ''excessive and unjustified''. Some claims were allegedly for taxis and alcohol.
''We have strong grounds for a judicial review of all of the EPA's invoiced costs on the basis the charges are unreasonable and unlawful, and in light of the EPA's ill-advised actions it appears necessary for this to be laid bare,'' Mr Castle said in a statement to shareholders.
Dr Freeth said the EPA must uphold the principle behind the legislation, which was that those who benefited from the consent process should bear all reasonable costs associated with it.
For its six months trading to September, Chatham booked a loss of $398,076.
