Mineral Resources: Everything you need to know about the embattled WA miner and founder Chris Ellison

Mineral Resources is arguably the most talked about company in corporate Australia right now, so why is it garnering so much attention? What is Mineral Resources? Mineral Resources, or MinRes as it is commonly known, is a company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with a value of $7.8 billion and about 7000 employees on its books. Almost all of MinRes’ operations are located in WA. MinRes mines iron ore and lithium, holds ground prospective for oil and gas, and runs a mining services division that has contracts with other companies. MinRes is also notably starting its own airline, which is an industry-first and a move the company says will enable it to transport a legion of fly-in, fly-out workers more efficiently. Who owns MinRes? Like all large ASX-listed companies MinRes has thousands and thousands of shareholders that all own a slice of the pie. But one man owns a bigger slice than everyone else. Chris Ellison founded MinRes, which listed on the ASX in 2006, and he is the company’s largest shareholder with a 11.5 per cent stake. Ellison remains the boss of MinRes and is credited by many shareholders as the key driving force behind the company’s meteoric rise over the past two decades. Who is Chris Ellison? Ellison is a Kiwi native who moved to Australia in the 1970s with virtually the shirt on his back. Fast forward to today and he owns the most expensive house in Perth — a waterfront Mosman Park mansion bought in 2009 for $57.5m. He is no stranger to media attention thanks to his wealth and outspoken nature, but he’s recently hit the headlines for a more nefarious reason. It was revealed earlier this month that Ellison allegedly ran a tax avoidance scheme in the British Virgin Islands and there have been other claims of financial misconduct levelled against him. The news hit MinRes’ share price hard and the company’s board is set to decide Ellison’s fate on Monday. A deal struck on Thursday may help him to survive as the boss. What is this deal? Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, agreed to buy virtually all of MinRes’ energy assets for up to $1.13 billion. Analysts say MinRes received a great price and Rinehart said she was looking forward to working with her “friend” Ellison on a joint venture to explore the company’s remaining oil and gas tenements. The deal was not just very important for Ellison, but for MinRes as a whole. Why was the deal important? MinRes has found itself in a tricky financial predicament and sorely needed the cash. The two core commodities it mines and sells — lithium and iron ore — have lost a lot of value in recent months, which has hit the company’s bank balance. Combined with this, MinRes has a large pile of debt associated with the construction bill for its new $3b Onslow Iron mine in WA’s north and in less than three years it has to pay back more than $1b in one go to bondholders. The anxiety around this confluence of factors has seen MinRes’ share price halve since May. The huge network of employees, suppliers and shareholders that MinRes supports locally have a lot riding on how the financial situation unfolds.