Element Zero, Michael Masterman legal team blasts Fortescue case, points to Andrew Forrest ‘stretch target’

Iron ore miner Fortescue has been accused of giving a judge inaccurate and misleading information before raiding the homes of former employees now behind a rival green processing hopeful. Malaga-based Element Zero claims the process developed by its founding scientists Bart Kolodziejczyk and Bjorn Winther-Jensen was “entirely different” to what they worked on at Fortescue in 2021 after executive chairman Andrew Forrest set a June 30 deadline for developing green technology. In a warm-up bout ahead a legal showdown starting on August 19, Element Zero’s legal team also attacked what they claimed was excessive surveillance carried out ahead of raids on two homes and the target company’s office and factory units. Element Zero is challenging the factual and legal basis of contentious private search orders that Fortescue gained from a Federal Court duty judge in May after claiming Element Zero had a suspiciously rapid development of its technology after being set up in late 2022. Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen set the company up with $3.8 million of funding from former senior Fortescue executive Michael Masterman, who was close a supporter of Mr Forrest before he became an iron ore billionaire. Mr Masterman, the chief executive of Element Zero, is a defendant in the hotly-contested Federal Court action secretly launched by Fortescue in late May. But his homes in affluent Sydney and Perth suburbs were not subject to the raids. Nevertheless, the surveillance documents released in recent days reveal Mr Masterman was followed by private investigators around Perth. They also kept watch on his two homes and tried to track Mr Masterman and Dr Kolodziejczyk on a visit to Port Hedland, where Element Zero is believed to be planning a pilot operation In its application to overturn Fortescue’s search and seizure orders, Element Zero claims the duty judge should have been told about meetings between Mr Masterman and his former employer that continued into January this year. Element Zero outlined its attacks on Thursday while unsuccessfully applying to cross-examining Fortescue legal adviser Paul Dewar, who filed three affidavits ahead of the search orders being granted. But Justice Brigitte Markovic said the proposed cross-examination would not help her decide the validity of the search orders and their scope. She also rejected Element Zero’s application to be provided details of briefing notes and emails sent to a Deloitte computer expert behind a report filed in early May. In successfully fighting the Element Zero’s applications, Fortescue barrister Julian Cooke said they were an attempt to distract from issues that Justice Markovic would have to deal with later this month Mr Cooke said Element Zero was also trying to distract from the strong case that Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen taken confidential information from their former employer and had used it when building Element Zero’s plant. “We’ve got evidence, contemporaneous evidence, that they’ve taken them” he said. What the former Fortescue scientists worked and its overlap with Element Zero’s process is set to be hotly contested — right down to basic chemical jargon. Mr Cooke said they had both worked for Fortescue on ionic processes — a chemical term pointing to using heavily acidic or alkaline mixtures to break down metals. Fortescue had submitted a variety of emails, including some prompted by messages from Mr Forrest in late 2020, where Dr Kolodziejczyk had referred to potentially using ionic liquids in metal processing and even prepared a patent applicant. Element Zero barrister Chris McMenahim said FFI was set a June 30, 2021 “stretch target” for creating an iron ore processing technology. Mr McMenahim said the scientists focused on developing what he described as “solid state liquid” process to break down iron ore. Whereas Element Zero’s technology used an ionic liquid to break down various metals, he said. “It’s an entirely different process,” Mr McMenahim said.