Revenue A$1273 million (2004) Number of employees 4,863 (2005) | ||
Founded 2003, Kalgoorlie, Australia Type of business Now a subsidiary of BHP Billiton | ||
WMC Resources Limited was an Australian diversified mining and fertilizer company that was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. WMC was an acronym for Western Mining Corporation. It was delisted on 29 June 2005 following a successful takeover by BHP Billiton. It was founded in 1933 as a gold miner. When it was taken over it had three main businesses:
Contents
History
Western Mining Corporation (WMC) was formed on 2 March 1933, during the Great Depression, when WS Robinson, the Australian-born London-based Managing Director of Broken Hill Associated Smelters, was able to interest several large London-based mining companies into forming syndicates to develop gold mines in Australia.
WMC began operations in Western Australia in December 1933 when it commenced an extensive aerial survey of the Eastern Goldfields. It acquired its first profitable mining operation in June 1935 when it took an option over a new gold discovery at Cox's Find, 43 miles northwest of Laverton.
The company's final corporate structure before takeover was formed in 2003 by a demerger that split off the aluminium operations to form Alumina Limited, separate from what was to be known as WMC Resources (with a separate ASX code of WMR).
In 2003, the company made a profit of A$245 million, on assets of approximately A$4000 million.
The last Chief Executive Officer of the independent company was Andrew Michelmore, and the board was chaired by Tommie Bergman. Executive Directors included Mr Michelmore and Alan Dundas. A notable previous CEO, from 1990 to 2003, was Hugh Morgan, a politically vocal CEO who spoke out about the power of trade unions, criticised the Mabo decision and native title more generally, and supported a number of other right-wing causes. Most influentially, Morgan was a member of the "greenhouse mafia," central to the campaign to prevent the Federal Government ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, or taking actions to cut emissions (in collaboration with Ray Evans, WMC Executive Officer, 1982-2001).
Takeover bids
In December 2004, Xstrata, a Swiss mining company, announced a takeover offer for the company. In February 2005, the WMC board recommended that shareholders reject the offer. The government did not object to the takeover through the Foreign Investment Review Board, however a number of people (including members of the Government) expressed concerns due to the economic (and strategic) importance of the Olympic Dam resources, and the reputation of Xstrata and its major shareholder, Glencore.
The Xstrata takeover offer lapsed after a higher offer was made by BHP Billiton, with support from the WMC Resources board. On the afternoon of 3 June 2005, about 6 hours before the BHP Billiton takeover offer was due to close, it was announced that 55% of the shares had accepted the offer. This automatically (according to Australian Corporations law) extended the offer period by another 14 days to 17 June. BHP Billiton had gained control of the company. On the afternoon of 17 June 2005, BHP Billiton announced that it had achieved 90.5% ownership, and would proceed to compulsory acquire the remaining shares.
As a result of the takeover, most of the board and the CEO resigned, and were replaced by BHP Billiton appointees. BHP Billiton Executive Director Mike Salamon took over the position of Chairman of the board, and Chris Campbell took over as interim CEO. The company name has been replaced by the BHP Billiton corporate identity, and a significant name in Australian mining history ceased to be used.