On Thursday, MinRes founder Chris Ellison will slink into a Perth function room, flanked by his chairman James McClements, to face shareholders at the miner’s AGM.

The company’s owners have every right to go hog-wild. Offshore tax shelters. Inflated rents. Discount equipment. Employees on his catamaran. A barge. A barista. A mystery property deal. Ellison, McClements and the board will surely apologise. All things considered, it’s the least they can do.