Sanders v Mount Isa Mines Limited & Ors
[2023] QSC 188 · Williams J
This case was brought by Bethany Sanders, a young girl who lived in Mount Isa as a toddler, through her litigation guardian. Her family claimed she suffered permanent brain damage and a reduced IQ from absorbing lead — partly through eating dirt — that came from the Mount Isa mining and smelting operations during 2007. The mining company denied it had any legal duty to warn the public about lead risks, and pointed out that its emissions were within lawful limits and well-monitored. The court agreed with the mining company. It found the company did not owe the kind of warning duty claimed, especially because government bodies like Queensland Health were already running a major lead-awareness campaign at the time. It also found the company did not cause the girl's injuries, noting her blood lead levels actually rose after she stopped playing in dirt, and that her severe iron deficiency anaemia separately caused much of her cognitive impairment. The claim failed completely, though the court calculated damages figures in case it was wrong.
Incident & injury
Plaintiff, an infant resident of Mount Isa, allegedly suffered brain damage and neurological injury from lead poisoning caused by absorption of lead emissions from the defendants' mining and smelting operations between April 2007 and January 2008.
- Body regions
- Brain / head, Brain/neurological, Cognitive/intellectual
- Diagnoses
- Lead poisoning (elevated blood lead levels up to 27.4 μg/dL), Brain damage/neurological injury, Cognitive impairment / reduced IQ (borderline range), Iron Deficiency Anaemia (pre-existing, contributory)
- Incident date
- 1 April 2007
- Location
- Mount Isa, Queensland
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 25 August 2023
- Claim type
- PIPA Public Liability
- Proceeding
- Trial
- Plaintiff outcome
- Unsuccessful
- Plaintiff age at injury
- ~1 (inferred)
- Occupation
- Infant child (born January 2006; aged 16 at trial; school student) Minor / Child
- Liability
- Disputed
- ISV assessed
- 53 · Item 7 (Moderate brain injury), Schedule 4 Civil Liability Regulation 2014
- Whole Person Impairment
- 22%
- Total damages
- $0
Outcome
The Court held the defendants did not owe the plaintiff a duty of care of the kind alleged, did not breach any such duty, and that causation was not established. The plaintiff's claim failed entirely. The Court assessed damages on a contingent basis only.
Defendants (3)
1 Mount Isa Mines Limited
Mine operator / Occupier of mining lease
- Judgment against this defendant
- $0
2 Xstrata Plc
Parent company (acquired third defendant in 2003)
- Judgment against this defendant
- $0
3 Xstrata Queensland Limited
Holding company / shareholder of first defendant
- Judgment against this defendant
- $0
Key issues
Sanders v Mount Isa Mines Limited & Ors [2023] QSC 188
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