MINING veteran Michael Kiernan has emerged from two years away from the limelight with a new manganese business in Indonesia, and plans for a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange next year.
His new venture, Asia Minerals Corporation, includes lawyer Tom Bannerman, Iron Ore Holdings director Mal Randall, and accountant Kevin Somes on its board.
It marks a return to manganese, the commodity that brought Mr Kiernan great success when he ran Consolidated Minerals.
ConsMin’s commercial success made it a hotly contested takeover target, with Ukrainian billionaire Gennadiy Bogolyubov winning control of the company in 2007 through a $1.1 billion offer.
After leaving ConsMin, Mr Kiernan pursued a variety of ventures through Territory Resources, Swan Gold Mining, and Matilda Zircon.
Based in Jakarta for the past two years, Mr Kiernan has admitted that he made big losses on some of his ill-fated ventures.
“I made some serious mistakes,” he told Tim Treadgold, whose full report is on page 30.
“I learned my lesson. I’ve gone back to my roots. I understand manganese. I understand bulk mining. Gold was foreign to me.”
Mr Kiernan last made the news in June 2010, when he stepped down from the board of Swan Gold after failing to implement a planned revival of its Carnegie and Mt Ida projects.
He is not the only investor to have struggled with these projects. Michael Fotios’ investment company Investmet and metals trader DCM DECOmetal are still working on a restructuring of Swan Gold.
• Full report here: Jakarta-based Kiernan in manganese play