Besieged Mineral Resources founder Chris Ellison will outrun his departure date, remaining as managing director as the board refuses to “rush” the search for a new boss under what it called an “arbitrary” timeframe.
New chairman Malcolm Bundey fronted shareholders at the miner’s annual general meeting, revealing the under-fire managing director will likely stay on beyond the original exit timeframe of between “12 and 18 months”, being May 2026.
The board has brought in external experts to build a “comprehensive, three-stage leadership succession program”, but with no new departure date, uncertainty remains.
“By undertaking this transition in a considered and methodical way, we will ensure the company, its people and our shareholders get a lasting, high-quality outcome, rather than rushing to meet an arbitrary deadline,” Mr Bundey told shareholders.
“We will measure success by putting in place the right leader, the right organisational structure and the right foundations for MinRes to thrive long after the transition.
“The success of this transition will be Chris’ legacy and he is committed to it.”
Mr Ellison has been due to relinquish the role after the market was told last year he would exit the iron ore, lithium and mining services company he floated in 2006.
He was due to walk “within 12 to 18 months” of November 2024, with Mr Bundey insisting over the past six months that a succession plan was being developed despite growing doubts that was the case.
But Mr Bundey told the company's shareholders they are “reviewing the status of succession planning for our founder and managing director”.
“While the former board had announced a target date for succession, the support program for this was outdated and, in our view, could not confidently deliver the intended outcomes of a smooth transition without creating unnecessary risk for the company and its shareholders,” he said.
“Chris and I are fully aligned that this leadership transition must be a rigorous, well managed process rather than an 'event', which it had become.
“A CEO and founder transition should never be treated as a single day in the calendar.”
Mr Bundey said MinRes had engaged Korn Ferry and HR consultant Xperience to design and implement a three-stage leadership succession program.
The new plan comes more than 12 months into the “12 to 18 months” window in which Mr Ellison was due to depart, leaving just months before the clock strikes midnight on the original departure date the market was promised.
It has been a tumultuous year since the New Zealand-born managing director last fronted shareholders, defined by a further unravelling of corporate governance issues, director resignations, regulatory body investigations and numerous court cases.
Mr Bundey told shareholders it would be "inappropriate" to comment on regulatory inquires and legal proceedings, as both the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and Australian Taxation Office continue to pry into the business.
The series of crippling corporate governance failures and a tax evasion scheme in the British Virgin Islands shredded MinRes’ share price, which has only recently crept back to around $50, with its $1.2 billion lithium deal aiding the recovery.
On Thursday morning, shares in MinRes were trading up about 3 per cent, pushing the share price to $50.06 per share as the market digested the board’s address.
Its share value is up 50 per cent from last year’s AGM when it had been battered by weeks of bad news, impacting Mr Ellison’s 11.5 per cent shareholding, which is today worth $1.14 billion.
The share price has lifted about 3.5 times the April low point where it got close to $14 a pop, however, the recovery is still well short of almost $80 each reached in April 2024.
An almost unrecognisable board compared to 2024's AGM faced shareholders at Mineral Resources Park in Lathlain, after six resignations or retirements were announced over the course of the last year, including Zemi Meka, who retired today.
Mr Bundey, who succeeded James McClements in July, has a mandate that includes the task of rebuilding the board and hiring experts to put in place new corporate governance frameworks.
The new cohort of directors, including Mr Bundey, were voted in.
After receiving a strike last year, the 2025 remuneration report was approved today, including Mr Bundey being granted up to 780,000 stock options at an exercise price of $25.40 a pop.
Mr Bundey will have to pay $19.8 million to convert those options into share across three trances over three years, the first in June 2026.
Shareholders also gave their blessing to Mr Ellison's renumeration package worth a total $6.55 million.
That includes a base salary of $1.6 million, a long term incentive package worth up to $2.8 million and up to $2 million in performance rights covered under a short-term incentive plan.
Since 2022, Mr Ellison has forfeited roughly 163 million performance rights awarded under the company’s incentive plans.
