Billionaire miner Chris Wallin closes in on gold explorer

A Brisbane mining richlister, who made his fortune in coal, is close to acquiring a majority stake in a West Australian gold explorer.

Queensland mining richlister Chris Wallin.

Queensland mining richlister Chris Wallin is close to acquiring a majority stake in gold and manganese explorer Carawine Resources.

According to a filing by Carawine to the ASX yesterday, Wallin and related entities including QGold now hold 48.13 per cent of the company following an all-cash on-market takeover bid of 21 cents per share launched in February.

Wallin’s offer is unconditional and will remain open until Friday. Carwaine will be removed from the ASX if the acquisition goes ahead.

West Australian-based Carawine has advised shareholders not to sell, saying it undervalues its projects. Wallin, who was last month named by The Australian as the country’s 65th richest man with a fortune of $1.89bn, trained as a geologist with the Queensland Government before founding his own company QCoal in the late 1980s.

He told City Beat recently that an Indiana Jones like encounter with a deadly black snake as a young geologist made him a lifelong supporter of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). He recently donated $3m to help construct a pilot training centre in Bundaberg to cater for its new fleet of Beechcraft aircraft.

Chris Wallin.

RACE DAY FOR ROSS

The Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) will host a special race day next month in memory of businessman Ross Maclean who lost his battle with motor neuron disease in 2005.

The annual Ross Maclean Fellowship Race Day will be held Saturday May 14 at the Gold Coast Turf Club with all proceeds to help research into the deadly disease.

Before he passed away, Maclean was instrumental in establishing a fellowship to study motor neuron disease at QBI. A clinical trial is presently underway with a promising new drug treatment that may protect motor neurons and delay progression of the disease.

Maclean’s company the Index Group – one of Queensland’s top 400 privately owned companies and today headed by his son Jeff Maclean – is committed to continue supporting research into a cure. MND is a debilitating neurological disease for which there are currently no therapies that have a meaningful benefit for patients.

Queensland Brain Institute founder Perry Bartlett

In Australia, there is only one drug approved for MND treatment and it extends a person’s lifespan by a couple of months but doesn’t improve a person’s quality of life. In the US, there are two drugs approved for use by the FDA, however, both have limited efficacy.

To his enduring credit, Maclean conceived the idea to create a MND Fellowship after meeting with QBI’s inaugural director Professor Perry Bartlett.

Professor Bartlett is an internationally renowned neuroscientist, who has set about to continue his leading research into the fundamental mechanisms that underpin brain function.

The unique fellowship is one of the few research positions in Australia dedicated to fundamental research of the underlying neurological factors behind motor neuron disease.

The 2022 Ross Maclean Senior Research Fellow is Dr Adam Walk.

LEGAL GONG

Brisbane legal eagle Andrew Hynd is charging his champagne glass after getting a special mention in the latest edition of The Best Lawyers in Australia.

The Holding Redlich partner was awarded lawyer of the year in the information technology law category of the awards.

Hynd was among 35 Holding Redlich lawyers included in the 2023 edition of the guide, first published in 1983 and now regarded as a prestigious guide to legal ability.

Other notable inclusions were Sydney-based general counsel Lyn Nicholson who was listed for the first time in the privacy, data and security law category.

Brisbane partner Darren Anderson, already listed in real property law, was judged one of the top leasing lawyers in the country while Melbourne partner Kyle Siebel received a mention as one of the top litigation lawyers.

Holding Redlich national managing partner, Ian Robertson says the awards recognised the depth and breadth of talent across the national firm’s core practice areas.

“To earn the respect of the profession takes sustained commitment and dedication to every client, project and case,” says Robertson.

Holding Redlich Brisbane partner Andrew Hynd