Western Mining Corporation
| Western Mining Corporation Resources Limited | |
|---|---|
| legal form | |
| founding | 1933 |
| resolution | 2005 |
| Reason for dissolution | Takeover by BHP Billiton |
| Seat | |
The WMC Resources Resources Limited (WMC), even for brief Western Mining Company called, was an Australian mining company, who, when they of the BHP Billiton was acquired, on the Australian Stock Exchange was entlistet (ASX) on 29 June of 2005.
Business areas
Western Mining Corporation was active in three business areas:
- Nickel mining and processing in Western Australia .
- Mining of copper and uranium in the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia with the largest known uranium deposit in the world.
- Fertilizer production in Queensland , which was renamed Southern Cross Fertilisers or Hi Fert after the takeover . BHP Billiton sold Southern Cross Fertilisers to Incitec Pivot Limited in May 2006 and Hi Fert entered into a joint venture with Elders Limited and AWB Limited on December 5, 2005, which would establish the deposit of a new mine of titanium dioxide and the ability to extract mineral sand from Corridor Sands Limitada near Chibuto in Mozambique .
history
The roots of the Western Mining Company are gold mining in 1933 in Kalgoorlie-Boulder , Western Australia . Before the takeover by BHP Billion, the company spun off Alumina Limited in 2003 , which is listed as WMC Resources on the ASX.
In 2003 WMC generated a profit of 245 million AUD and the enterprise value was approximately 4 billion AUD.
The last Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the WMC company was Andrew Michelmore. The board of directors and executive directors was staffed by Tommie Bergman with executive directors including Andrew Michelmore and Alan Dundas. Another CEO from 1990 to 2003 was Hugh Morgan , a politically ambitious CEO who opposed the power of the trade unions, against the court ruling Mabo v. Queensland (No. 2) as well as against the Native Title securing the land rights of Aborigines in general and he supported right-wing politics. Morgan had a strong influence as a member of the so-called "greenhouse mafia" in Australia, which led a campaign against the Australian federal government so that it would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol and oppose rules to reduce greenhouse gases . This was done together with Ray Evans, the WMC Executive Officer (1982-2001).
takeover
In December 2004, Xstrata , a company from Switzerland , announced that it had submitted a takeover offer to WMC. In February 2005, the WMC board announced that the shareholders had rejected this takeover offer. The government was against the takeover by a foreign company, but a number of personalities were in favor - including members of the government who focused on the economic and strategic importance of the copper and uranium resources of the Olympic Dam mine and the reputation of Xstrata and his own Main shareholder Glencore related.
Xstrata's takeover offer was exceeded by BHP Billiton and supported by the board of WMC Resources . On the afternoon of June 3, 2005, six hours before the end of a takeover offer by BHP Billiton, it was announced that 55 percent of the shareholders had accepted the offer. This meant that under the Australian Corporations Law, there was a 14-day extension to June 17th. BHP Billiton now intended to take over the entire company and announced on June 17, 2005 that they owned 90.5 percent of the shares in WMC and that they would also take over the remaining free float.
As a result of the acquisition, most of the WMC board members and CEOs resigned and were replaced by those appointed by BHP Billiton. BHP Billiton executive director Mike Salamon took over the chairmanship of the board of directors and Chris Campbell was appointed temporary CEO. The old company name was replaced by BHP Billiton and an important name in the history of Australian mining companies disappeared.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on www.wmc.com ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hi Fert ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Hi Fert Change in Ownership at www.hifert.com.au
- ↑ Clive Hamilton: Scorcher: the dirty politics of climate change . Black Inc. Agenda, 2007, ISBN 9780977594900 .
