A tough upbringing gave George Jones the tools he needed to forge a distinguished career in the resources industry.
A tough upbringing gave George Jones the tools he needed to forge a distinguished career in the resources industry.
George Jones keeps it simple when asked about how he has overcome adversity to become a successful businessman and respected figure in the resources industry.
“If I am involved in a situation I just get up and do it,” he said.
The chairman of Sundance Resources and Gindalbie Metals told an audience of more than 400 at a WA Business News Success & Leadership event last week of his approach to a life time fraught with challenges.
Two years ago, Mr Jones came out of a retirement caused by Meniere’s disease to resume his role as chairman of Sundance following the tragic plane crash in Africa that claimed the lives of the company’s entire board.
In describing his return, Mr Jones quoted John Lennon: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
“That’s how I view life,” he said. “All I wanted to do was enjoy life, have a happy family and be able to give something back.
“It didn’t really suit me to go back (to Sundance) but I felt someone had to stand up and I was the likely person to do it.”
His selfless act has helped the iron ore company overcome the tragedy to become a potential acquisition for Chinese group Hanlong Mining.
Mr Jones explained how he was confronted by adversity throughout his childhood after being born in Sydney as a war-time baby.
He never knew his father and assumed the Jones name from his mother’s partner at the time.
His early memories of his adopted father, a soldier in the army, are not pleasant and something only time has resolved.
“He was an alcoholic, he turned my mother into an alcoholic, so I went into an institution,” Mr Jones said.
“Over the years I’ve begun to understand the effect the service has on people and I’m a bit more forgiving than I used to be.”
Mr Jones spent time living at Parkerville Children’s Home east of Perth, where he is now a board member and has an advocacy centre named in his honour.
The ensuing years were dominated by instability as he attended nine schools over his nine years at primary or high school.
After leaving school at 15, Mr Jones spent the next five years in and out of jobs, which included working in a supermarket, on sheep stations, in the public service and with Schweppes.
He finally found solidity in his life by joining the army, where he served in the Vietnam War in 1968-69 and also become a qualified motor mechanic.
Ultimately, Mr Jones decided the army was not for him, but his association with the service would continue when he was hired by a World War II veteran to work at ANZ bank.
After earning a business degree at Curtin University and several years at the bank, Mr Jones moved towards the resources industry when, at 36, he founded Fincorp, now known as Oakvale Capital.
It was at Fincorp where Mr Jones found the desire to become intimately involved with the industry.
“I decided I would have a go at taking the advice I was giving everybody else,” Mr Jones said.
His first major venture was to buy a 20 per cent stake in Consolidated Resources, a junior with a market capitalisation of $1.2 million that Mount Eden Gold Mines bought out for a substantial premium 18 months later.
Beyond that success, Mr Jones oversaw the growth of Portman Mining from a start-up company in the 1990s to a 6 million tonnes a year iron ore producer in 2005.
Portman was eventually acquired by US company Cliffs Natural Resources in 2008 for about $680 million following a long takeover bid.
However, it has not always been smooth sailing for Mr Jones in his resources career, with his time as chairman of Consolidated Gold the most notable setback.
The company was left in administration after the gold price plummeted to well below its operating costs with Mr Jones at the helm.
In response to this, Mr Jones called on the resolve that helped him through his adolescence to get by another challenging period.
“That was a disastrous situation, but I didn’t quit, I reconstructed it and all the people kept their shares and made their money back,” he said.
Mr Jones was appointed to Gindalbie and Sundance in 2005 and 2006 respectively and, despite his short retirement, holds the roles today.
