Yellowknife (Aug 30/06) - Ekati mine owner BHP Billiton has filed a lawsuit against the territorial government, saying that the GNWT was, "unjustly enriched by an overpayment of (fuel) tax," under its Petroleum Products Tax.

The mineral giant is seeking the $4.8 million it paid in motor vehicle fuel taxes between 1999 and 2004 for diesel oil used to power cranes, drills, rock crushers and excavators at its Ekati mine site.

In a BHP affidavit, filed in July 2005, the company states that the equipment is unable to move to and from the mine site without being dismantled and transported by truck so it should not be considered a motor vehicle.

The company submitted that fuel taxes collected from 1996 to 1999 for diesel used by this equipment, was reimbursed by the GNWT unlike the years that followed.

However, the GNWT's position - outlined in court documents - is based on an October, 2000 assessment by then Finance Minister Joe Handley, who denied the company's claims for a fuel tax reimbursement beyond June 30, 1999, describing each piece of mining equipment at issue as "self-propelled" vehicles and therefore subject to the tax.

Both the territorial government and BHP declined to comment on the case, which is scheduled to come before the NWT Supreme Court, Dec. 19.