Chris Ellison | |
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Born | c. 1957 New Zealand |
Education | Otago Boys' High School |
Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Known for | Founder of Mineral Resources |
Christopher James Ellison MNZM (born c. 1957) is a New Zealand entrepreneur known as the founder of Australian mining services company Mineral Resources.
Ellison was born in New Zealand. He grew up on a farm outside of Dunedin and attended Otago Boys' High School, leaving school in 1972 at the age of 15.[1]
In 1978, Ellison moved to Karratha, Western Australia, where he established rigging firm Karratha Rigging and won a contract to work on the North West Shelf Venture.[2] He was managing director until 1982, when he sold the firm to Walter Wright Industries and subsequently became general manager of its WA/NT division. In 1986 he established Genco Ltd, which was acquired by engineering firm Monadelphous Group in 1988.[3] Ellison became a substantial shareholder in Monadelphous as a result of the acquisition, but the company collapsed in the early 1990s and left him financially ruined.[2]
In 2006, Ellison and others established Mineral Resources as a merger of three mining services firms – pipeline contractor PIHA, ore-crushing firm Crushing Services International (CSI), and Process Minerals International (PMI). Ellison was a major shareholder in each of the three.[2] Mineral Resources was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in 2006 at 90 cents per share. By 2022 the company's share price had risen to an all-time high of over $71 per share, with Ellison holding around 12 percent of the company.[4]
As of 2022, Ellison owned a 10 percent stake in ASX-listed rare earths explorer VHM Limited.[5] In September 2023 he was appointed non-executive chairman of ASX-listed explorer Delta Lithium Ltd after Mineral Resources acquired a controlling stake.[6]
In 2009, Ellison bought a riverside mansion in Mosman Park, Perth, for an Australian record price of $57.5 million (equivalent to $88.2 million in 2022). The property was bought from mining heiress Angela Bennett.[7] In 2022 he and former Mineral Resources board member Tim Roberts purchased an agricultural property near Queenstown, New Zealand, for over NZ$30 million.[8]
Ellison was appointed as New Zealand's honorary consul in Western Australia in 2013. He was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours, for "services to New Zealand–Australia relations".[9]
Ellison became a notional billionaire in 2020, when shares in Mineral Resources hit a then record high.[10]
Year | Australian Financial Review Rich List |
Forbes Australia's 50 Richest | ||
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Rank | Net worth (A$) | Rank | Net worth (US$) | |
2018[11] | 98 ![]() |
$0.78 billion ![]() |
||
2019[12] | 148 ![]() |
$0.66 billion ![]() |
||
2020[13] | 103 ![]() |
$1.00 billion ![]() |
||
2021[14] | 87 ![]() |
$1.29 billion ![]() |
||
2022 | 64 ![]() |
$1.80 billion ![]() |
||
2023[15] | 55 ![]() |
$2.25 billion ![]() |
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