Macarthur returns to Australia

After spending years listed on the Toronto stock exchange, a company founded by the late mining magnate Ken Talbot has returned home

JUST like the famous American general of the same name, Macarthur Minerals has staged a return of sorts.

The Brisbane-based mineral explorer, which listed on the Toronto bourse more than a decade ago, came home on Friday with a debut on the ASX.

Your diarist yesterday ran into deal maker James Canning-Ure, who along with the late mining magnate Ken Talbot was one of the founders of the company and recalls the early days of the business. Canning-Ure says the company was originally called Macarthur Diamonds but needed a more profitable resource.

The late Ken Talbot.

“I knew nothing about mining at the time but Ken sent me to Toronto to talk to brokers about what resources we should be involved in and where,” says Canning-Ure, known around the traps as LDM, or Local Deal Maker.

“I came back six weeks later and told him we should be in iron ore in Australia.”

The rest as they say is history with the company investing in Western Australian iron ore projects.

Those projects, located on mining tenements covering approximately 62 square kilometres, have now secured lucrative off-take agreements from Glencore.

Canning-Ure says Talbot, who died in an African plane crash in 2010, always called his companies Macarthur in honour of the general who famously said “I shall return” as he left the Philippines just before the Japanese invasion during World War II.

“The spirit of Ken Talbot has now returned to Australia,” said Canning-Ure as he lifted a glass of red in salute at upmarket nosh pit Sake in Eagle Street.

The stock closed at 31 cents on Friday from an opening price of 28 cents.

TEACHING AIDS

MORE on our item last week about the little state school in north Brisbane that has employed an expensive consultant to prepare what it calls a “quadrennial strategic plan.”

City Beat revealed last Saturday that Wooloowin State School has engaged the services of educational consultants Strategy1st, which charges up to $25,000 to help school produce strategic plans so they can “stay ahead of the game.”

Some parents at the school were understandably outraged at the cost, noting it is enough to buy every student an iPad.

But the Education Department had defended the move noting “individual principals make decisions about the best use of resources to meet the needs of their students in consultation with their school communities.”

The Education Department is spending more and more on consultants to produce reports of arguably dubious value that often end up gathering dust on shelves.

In 2018-19, the department spent $1.82 million on consultancies more than double the $830,000 spent two years previously.

It reminds your diarist about that old joke about how many consultants does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: We don’t know. They never seem to get past the feasibility study.

TAKING STOCK

ONE of Australia’s oldest building companies is set to revitalise the country’s premier

outback heritage institution.

Woollam Constructions has been selected to refurbish the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre in Longreach.

The work will include upgrades to the main building with a complete revitalisation of the entry foyer, reception, café, amenities and theatre together with landscaping of the entry and billabong areas at the world-famous tourist attraction.

The Stockman's Hall of Fame at Longreach.

It’s full circle for Woollam who originally built the Hall of Fame in 1987.

Executive director George Bogiatzis worked on the project as a building cadet in the late 1980s.

Founded by famous Australian bush artist Hugh Sawrey, the Stockman’s Hall of Fame has hosted more than one million people since it opened in 1988.

GOOD WICKET

TOOWOOMBA-BASED building group FKG Group is putting runs on the board for Queensland schoolchildren facing challenges to their sporting ambitions.

The family-owned business has become the major sponsor of Aspirations4Kids in Sport (A4K), chaired by cricketing legend Ian Healy.

Established in 1999, A4K assists Queensland schoolchildren who face unique challenges of hardship, disability, chronic illness and remote living issues, by providing funding and support services to improve lives through the positive influence of sport.

More than 2,000 Queensland schoolchildren from all over the state have benefitted from A4K’s assistance to date, with over $1 million in funds delivered to support 23 different school sports in 12 school sports regions.

FKG Group’s Executive Chairman Gary Gardner says the company is proud to help support young sporting talent from across the state.

Ian Healy (left) and Gary Gardner.