Prominent Aboriginal mining executive Daniel Tucker has resigned from the company he founded after it scrapped a deal with Fortescue Metals Group in favour of working with Mineral Resources.
Prominent Aboriginal mining executive Daniel Tucker has resigned from the company he founded after it scrapped a deal with Fortescue Metals Group in favour of working with Mineral Resources.
Australian Aboriginal Mining Corporation has spent the past five years partnering with Fortescue on the proposed development of WA’s first substantially Aboriginal owned iron ore mine.
That all changed last month when the company agreed to sell its main asset, the Wonmunna iron ore project, to the Chris Ellison-led Mineral Resources.
The sale was disclosed last Friday in Mineral Resources’ quarterly report.
Mr Tucker resigned this week as a director and chairman of AAMC, saying the benefits to Aboriginal people will no longer be realised under the agreement with Mineral Resources.
“Realising Aboriginal benefits will always be my primary focus,” he said.
“There is a bigger opportunity that will be missed and that is long-term financial gain and opportunities for Aboriginal people through employment, education and training.
“The proposition of an Aboriginal majority-owned and managed junior miner would be a game-changer for Aboriginal people, Western Australia and the mining industry.”
Mr Tucker owns 25 per cent of AAMC and was the sole Aboriginal person on the board of directors.
The company’s two other directors are experienced mining industry executives Fergus Campbell and David Paull.
Under the company’s original plan, it would have produced 2 million tonnes pa and trucked the ore 190km to Fortescue’s Cloudbreak mine.
Mr Tucker said this plan was expected to create up to 120 Aboriginal jobs during construction, and a further 120 Aboriginal jobs during operations.
It had been envisaged that his private company Carey Mining would be the mining contractor.
He said the mine would also see flow on business opportunities for traditional owner and Aboriginal businesses, and local service contractors.
The mine’s new owner, Mineral Resources, said last Friday it planned to produce about 5 million tonnes pa, starting in the second half of FY21.
The total cost of the project was expected to be $126 million.
It said the purchase was for an immaterial cash consideration and a royalty, which MIN will pay to AAMC in respect of the first 40mt of production.
However its plans could be stymied by Fortescue’s legal action.
Fortescue is seeking declarations the Wonmunna mining leases, which former owner Ascot Resources applied for in 2008, are invalid because the applications were not accompanied by mineralisation reports.
Fortescue said its agreement with AAMC gave it rights to acquire the Wonmunna tenements and was taking legal action to protect its position.
"Fortescue has maintained an ongoing dialogue with the Aboriginal shareholders of AAMC who have indicated their support for Fortescue’s ongoing commitment to the establishment of a majority Aboriginal owned, managed and controlled mining company," a spokesperson said on Friday.
