The dispute is over voting rights on development plans for the mine.

Aquila will consider the judgment and decide whether it wishes to seek leave to appeal and whether to seek orders restraining Vale pending the hearing of any further appeal, its executive chairman Tony Poli said in a statement.

In September Aquila won an interlocutory injunction restraining Vale’s wholly-owned subsidiary Bowen Central Coal from voting on a resolution proposed by Vale in relation to Eagle Downs.

Aquila started legal proceedings over Eagle Downs last year after Vale unexpectedly pulled out of arrangements to secure 4 million tonnes per annum of port and associated rail capacity to export through Abbot Point in 2013.

In the subsequent dispute, Vale favoured developing the project before securing rail and port capacity.

Aquila wanted to secure the project’s logistics before going ahead with development – especially since it needs to win bank financing for its half stake of the $A1.3 billion project.

“Work will continue on seeking to identify and secure a suitable port and rail logistics solution for the project, as will discussions with Vale on options so that the project can be developed in the best interests of the joint venture,” Poli said.

In the first significant decision over the stalled longwall project, Queensland Supreme Court Judge Peter Applegarth in September found that the study on the Eagle Downs project was not considered to be a “feasibility study” under the terms of the joint venture agreement.

His second decision was to block a management committee meeting between the JV parties that could have allowed Vale to trigger an option to acquire Aquila’s stake in the project.

“Notwithstanding the appeal decision today, the proceedings commenced by Aquila Coal against Vale, which deal with the primary question of whether the Eagle Downs ‘Front-End Loading 3/Definitive Feasibility Study’ is a ‘Feasibility Study’ [as defined in the Bowen Central Coal Joint Venture Agreement] remain on foot,” Poli said.

While it is unclear when the mine could start production, Aquila has previously indicated that longwall output might not begin until October 2016 due to the limited availability of spare port and rail capacity.

Aquila was seeking damages for the expected income from longwall mining at Eagle Downs from 2013 – when the underground mine could have started output by using export capacity through Abbot Point.

Poli recently told ILN he hoped to put the company’s long-running dispute with Vale behind it in 2012, following the Brazilian mining giant’s management overhaul, and said construction on the Eagle Downs mine could begin next year.

Vale told ILN it could confirm what Aquila had released to the market.