Former coal miner’s $11m winning bet on battery revolution

One of the state’s most experienced mining executives is the latest former coalminer to make millions of dollars out of the looming electric revolution.

Copper is essential for electric vehicle roll out.

Veteran resources executive Pat Williams is the latest former coalminer to make millions out of the looming electric revolution.

Williams, who started his career with BHP’s Utah coalmine in central Queensland in the late 1980s, and business partner Paul McKenna have made a whopping $11 million paper profit so far on their combined investment in ASX copper debutante Revolver Resources.

Shares in Brisbane-based Revolver, which has copper projects near Mt Isa and north west of Cairns, has almost doubled from its 20c offering price last month. They closed at 38.5c on Thursday.

Copper may not be as sexy as lithium in the expanding renewables economy but it is a crucial component in batteries and other energy sources along with being a base industrial metal.

Three-wheeled electric vehicles recharging in Japan.

Williams, who serves as managing director of Revolver, has and McKenna, who serves as Revolver chairman, are the biggest shareholders in Revolver through their Ranger Resources, which holds 61.5 million shares or more than 20 per cent of the company.

The men are not only former coal miners to pivot successfully out of fossil fuels to renewables. Brett Lynch, James Brown, Allan Buckler and Dan O’Neill have seen the value their ASX-listed lithium venture Sayona Mining soar almost 19 times to a billion dollars since January.

Revolver Resources managing director Patrick Williams.

City Beat hears that Williams, a Padua old boy who used to terrorise as a front rower with Brothers, likes to run a pretty lean ship. Last year he enlisted hapless PR man Gareth Quinn to hammer in star pickets on one of the northern Queensland mine sites. Quinn was rewarded with a steak and a cold beer.

ABC’S LANG PARK OBSESSION

It‘s been a long time since most people have referred to Suncorp Stadium by its previous name Lang Park. Suncorp has held the naming rights to the stadium for a quarter of a century with a ten year extension to the deal announced earlier this month.

Despite a whole generation of footy fans not knowing the stadium by any other name Suncorp boss Steve Johnston is mystified about why the national broadcaster continues to call it Lang Park.

Johnston, who last month celebrated two years in the top job at Suncorp, admits he may have missed a key performance indicator (KPI) in trying to persuade the ABC to stop calling the stadium Lang Park. “I’m not sure I will be able to achieve that during my tenure,” laments Johnston.

Your diarist notes that the ABC has no problems referring to Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast. The ABC did not respond to a request for comment.

Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston and ASM’s Harvey Lister shake on the extension to the stadium’s naming rights. Picture: Jerad Williams

SMELLY DEBATE

There appears to be a battle of smells going on down at Milton where two popular breweries produce some pretty good beers. City Beat spies tell us that fans of Newstead Brewing always know when that company has a new batch of beers on the boil because it smells like a delicious bakery.

They are less laudatory of the smells emanating from the XXXX Brewery across the road but we hear fans of Queensland’s longest established top drop believe their brew smells better.

As a teetotaller, your diarist cannot claim to be an expert but the brewery smells as you drive down Milton Rd are generally pretty good no matter what establishment they come from.

SKROO’S TURN

After a cracking speech by Suncorp boss Steve Johnston at the QUT Business Leaders’ Forum on Wednesday, Graham “Skroo” Turner has been lined up for the first event of 2022 in March.

Skroo has been pretty vocal on the stuff ups around the vaccine roll outs and border closures so it will be interesting to get his views as we come out of the pandemic. By that time we will hopefully be well on the road to some sort of normality.

Flight Centre chief executive Graham Turner. Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian