The rise and demise of Mineral Resources boss Chris Ellison

It was 2009 and the Australian house price record had just been shattered.

Yet, most were left wondering, how could a recently retired Federal Senator afford such an opulent palace?

Chris Ellison paid $57.5 million for a waterfront mansion in the exclusive Perth suburb of Mosman Park, eclipsing the previous national record by nearly $10m.

At the time, that name was synonymous with the seasoned Liberal Senator from Western Australia — who had left politics in 2007 after serving in the Howard Government ministry for a decade.

Few outside of WA mining circles would have known about the other Chris Ellison — a high school drop out from New Zealand turned contracting entrepreneur.

But the transaction for that flashy piece of real estate changed everything.

The Kiwi Chris was thrust into limelight after buying the 7567sqm property from iron ore heiress Angela Bennett, the daughter of Lang Hancock’s business partner Peter Wright.

The eye-watering sale exemplified the colossal fortunes that were being built during the intermittent mining and energy booms in WA.

Known for being a ruthless and bruising dealmaker, Mr Ellison jostled himself in the fray to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the good times out West.

After dropping out of school aged 15, Mr Ellison worked odd jobs until his late teens — when he crossed the ditch to Sydney in 1977 with virtually the clothes on his back and a few friends. He made his way up to WA’s resources-rich Pilbara region, which was on the cusp of a gas bonanza.

Mr Ellison got a heavy machinery licence to start his first venture — a crane hire business in Karratha — and by his mid-20s had cashed out for a pretty penny.

He ploughed that money back into a mining services business that was swallowed up by Monadelphous, but he had a big exposure to the acquirer and its subsequent collapse left him teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

Down to his last 10 grand and some maxed-out credit cards, he started a pipeline contractor in 1992 that would eventually evolve into Mineral Resources.

MinRes was listed on the ASX in 2006 and hit the ground running with Mr Ellison firmly at the helm. By the time he bought the Mosman Park mansion in 2009 his stake in the company was worth more than $250m.

The birth of MinRes as a publicly-listed company would catapult Mr Ellison’s wealth to new lofty heights, but would ultimately come back to haunt him.

MinRes evolved from its bread and butter as a contractor digging up dirt for others, to then owning the mines and associated infrastructure itself.

The company established a network of iron ore and lithium mining operations dotted across the vast WA landscape with more than 7000 employees on its books.

As Mr Ellison’s net worth expanded, so did the Mosman Park mansion. He and his wife Tia bought up two neighbouring properties in 2014 for more than $10m to tack onto the existing house.

By May this year, Mr Ellison’s paper wealth from his MinRes stake alone had ballooned to about $1.8 billion. Having an outspoken nature meant his public profile rose in tandem.

Then it all started to turn sour.

A double whammy of tumbling lithium and iron ore prices put MinRes under considerable strain during a delicate period for the company.

Its balance sheet was creaking under the weight of a big pile of debt and cash was drying up. The company’s new $3b Onslow Iron project left a large construction bill to pick up and in less than three years it has to pay back more than $1b in one go to bondholders.

MinRes’ share price between May and September lost more than 60 per cent of its value and a horde of detractors started circling. Mr Ellison’s own net worth took a pummelling, his salary shrunk and he lost a multi-million-dollar dividend cheque.

The stock rebounded slightly before revelations about Mr Ellison became public and took the wind out of its sails again.

Less than three weeks ago it came to light Mr Ellison ran a tax avoidance scheme in the British Virgin Islands, which started prior to MinRes listing but a subsequent windfall that continued for years after. Other claims of financial misconduct impacting MinRes shareholders were also levelled against him.

The company then revealed it had been investigating Mr Ellison since 2022 over these matters. On Monday the findings of this investigation were tabled by MinRes’ board, and they were damning.

In essence, they concluded that Mr Ellison was using company resources for his personal benefit and “at times” had not acted with the integrity and transparency expected of a boss that runs a publicly listed company.

As punishment, Mr Ellison will pay a financial penalty of up to $18.4m and leave the managing director role within 18 months.

There were signs Mr Ellison was bracing for the worst just before this scandal came to light. The hint came at the symbol of his rise — the Mosman Park mansion.

One of the properties that makes up the sprawling compound was put up for sale in early October with a price guide in the “mid to high $5 million’s”. It was bought for $5m in 2014, and has a current estimated value of about $6.15m, according to CoreLogic data.

Mr Ellison in early October also stuck the for-sale sign on other chunks of his property empire. Two industrial properties he has an ownership stake in were put on the market, and are set to fetch a combined $20m.

Both properties are leased to MinRes, and these lucrative rental agreements he directly benefits from were part of the board’s investigation.

What next for the outgoing managing director and the company he founded remains unclear.

A successor is yet to be named, and MinRes has not ruled out Mr Ellison remaining within the business in some capacity.

Mr Ellison is still the number one MinRes shareholder, the company’s third largest investor backs him, and many others on the share register have made their own small fortunes riding on his coattails.

This saga may have another major twist if Mr Ellison decides not to go quietly in the night.