Ownership Matters identifies more Chris Ellison family connections linked to Mineral Resources

Ship owners transporting the iron ore Mineral Resources exports from WA are encouraged to use a shipping agent owned by the daughter of the company’s boss, Chris Ellison, according to a prominent corporate governance adviser.

An Ownership Matters report, obtained by The West Australian, has revealed that Ship Agency Services (SAS) — founded by Mr Ellison’s daughter Kristy-Lee Craker in 2011 — has been raking in millions of dollars as MinRes’ shipping agent.

“Mineral Resources has confirmed to OM that SAS is its preferred ship agency and is recommended as such to ship owners when hiring ships,” the Ownership Matters report to select MinRes shareholders states.

“Unlike BHP, RIO and Fortescue, ship agency at MIN has never been subject to a competitive open tender process.”

MinRes says its contractual arrangements with SAS are in line with market rates.

Ownership Matters estimates that MinRes has chartered in excess of 1000 ships during the period of SAS’s existence and says industry standard ship agency rates for bulk carriers in Australian ports range between $5500 and $10,000 per engagement.

This means SAS could have made over $10m from MinRes shipping.

Ownership Matters uncovered that SAS was run from a Bibra Lake commercial property owned by MinRes from 2014 until February 2023.

Ms Craker is a shareholder of marine surveying business Propel Marine, which also has contracts with MinRes.

“OM has no information about the commercial arrangements on which those companies are engaged and makes no implication that these (MinRes) arrangements are not on arm’s length terms,” the report states.

The West Australian does not suggest otherwise.

“Shipping agency and marine surveying are licenced industries that require a high degree of professionalism and it is clear that these entities also have external clientele.”

Ownership Matters noted that payments made to SAS and Propel had risen substantially for the 2024 financial year.

“This is due to the critical role played by SAS in facilitating the importation of key items of equipment for the Onslow Iron project, including transhippers,” was MinRes’ response to Ownership Matters.

“Services from Propel include vessel draft surveys, hold inspections, port captaincy, marine warranty surveys etc. These services were performed at arm’s length rates.”

The influential shareholder advisory firm has previously prodded MinRes investors to question connections between Mr Ellison and his family and associates.

Ownership Matters in June discovered that five or six MinRes employees were shareholders of a lithium explorer, on top of Chris Ellison, his mother-in-law, and MinRes’ celebrity photographer Russell James — all right before MinRes acquired its own stake.

That was in relation to the listing of Kali Metals on the ASX at the beginning of the year. Mr Ellison emerged as Kali’s third largest shareholder.

“Press articles also asserted the sixth largest holder listed by Kali, Jennifer Robinson, was the mother-in-law of MinRes’ managing director Chris Ellison,” Ownership Matters stated.

“Photographer Russell James also was on the register with 1 million shares; he was the photographer for MinRes’ “I AM MINRES” collection.

“Representatives of Mineral Resources also confirmed that five or six other MinRes employees were pre-IPO investors in Kali.”

The West revealed that Ms Robinson was Mr Ellison’s mother-in-law and that she was among a number of fortunate investors to sell their stakes in Kali for a hefty profit just as MinRes bought up a 14 per cent stake post-listing.

Ownership Matters is widely known for issuing warnings about now-collapsed investment fund manager Blue Sky Alternative through similar reports.