Min Res' flight of hubris
When a travertine princess rules, shareholders foot the Antonov-sized bill.
Just when you think you've heard it all, along comes another dumpster truck of revelations on Mineral Resources co-founder Chris Ellison and his flagrant misspending of other shareholders' money.
The latest instalment in The Australian Financial Review's Ellison graft serial centres on the 2020 renovation of Mineral Resources' Osborne Park headquarters in Perth, the most over-capitalised fit-out since the Palace of Versailles. Do yourself a favour and savour every last word.
The design team on the reno only naturally comprised of Ellison's wife Tia and her two pals (both interior designers), and potentially the most delicious detail was the $700,000 they spent on travertine tiles air-freighted from Italy over the protests of Mineral Resources' project manager.[[There were several shipments of furniture and other materials for the project air-freighted to Perth from Europe.]]
I've subsequently learned that Min Res spent another US$725,000 ($1.1 million) on basalt tiles flown in from Turkey on a dedicated Antonov An-124 freighter. The per square metre rate on those tiles may well be a world record. It would have been cheaper to lay locally sourced gold bars or perhaps even bricks of pure Colombian cocaine.