Mineral Resources managing director Chris Ellison says he'll forever regret a personal tax issue that has brought one of Australia's largest mining companies into disrepute.
Chairman James McClements told the company's annual meeting on Thursday that Mr Ellison's historic dealing with Far East Equipment Holdings - a company he had a stake in and that sold Mineral Resources equipment - showed a lack of "judgment and integrity that we would expect of our managing director".
Mr Ellison also at times used company resources for personal matters, although there was a process for Mineral Resources to be repaid, Mr McClements said.
The board announced on November 4 that Mr Elllison would pay a penalty of $8.8 million and leave as managing director within the next 12 to 18 months, once a successor is found.
Mr Ellison told shareholders that many years ago, he had been a partner in a private company and made a "judgment error" regarding reporting of personal taxes.
He self-reported the matter to the Australian Tax Office in 2021 and in May 2023 paid the tax office $3.9 million, including interest and penalties.
"So I put that behind me, and I deeply regret the impact this has had on the business and our people," he said.
"I can't stress enough how much I hate what I've done. It's a dark cloud in my life that I'll live with forever. I want everyone to know I deeply regret that that error in judgment that I made back there."
Mr Ellison said he took full responsibility for his mistakes but had also built a great company that had employed thousands of people, delivered extremely good returns for shareholders and huge benefits to Australia.
"This business will keep doing that for a long time to come," promised Mr Ellison, who founded Mineral Resources 32 years ago.
The Mineral Resources board received a "first strike" from shareholders after more than 65 million proxy votes were cast against Mr Ellison's executive pay packet, with just 21 million cast in favour.
But the managing director also received a strong show of support from many of the roughly 300 shareholders who attended the meeting, with several receiving applause after advocating Mr Ellison be allowed to continue to lead the $6.7 billion mining services company.
"I fully support Chris Ellison, and I know many other shareholders who do," said longtime shareholder Brian Frederick.
"Many of us don't want him to leave in 18 months. ... he built the company and we need his continued vision for at least two years."
Another shareholder said that while Mr Ellison might have shown poor judgment with his personal tax matter, he had shown excellent business judgment in building the company.
