Clive Palmer’s hoped-for triumph shapes as his Waterloo

What Clive Palmer hoped would be the scene of his most remarkable triumph is shaping as his Waterloo.

Clive Palmer’s remote office. Picture: Colin Murty

It should be the scene of his most remarkable triumph. The remote place in Western Australia he wanted to call Port Palmer after a remarkable iron ore deal with the Chinese during the giddy days of the resources boom. Instead, it is shaping as Clive Palmer’s ­Waterloo.

His physical assets on the site comprise two simple dongas, but these have been effectively abandoned by the few remaining staff he employs in WA, leaving the locks on the temporary buildings to rust in the elements amid the tumbleweed.

Workers for his arch-enemy, the Chinese government-owned Citic, usually stay clear of the dongas as one of Australia’s most costly commercial battles over ­resources plays out in courts in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney ­between Mr Palmer and Beijing.

The site, a 90-minute drive from the town of Karratha, is part of the largest project undertaken by China in Australia, which has cost Beijing more than $10 billion so far.

It has also been a drain on the steadily depleting funds of the federal member for Fairfax whose legal challenges over royalties have been mostly lost, and ­occasionally sternly rebuked by judges, after litigation costing tens of millions of dollars.

The businesses of Mr Palmer, who this week issued another statement highly critical of the Chinese as they remain locked in dispute with him over mining royalties he is not being paid, are showing signs of worsening financial stress, according to insiders.

Hollow logs in the Queenslander’s group of unprofitable businesses are being targeted for cash. Asked about the financial challenges, Chinese stonewalling on his demands, cashflow pressures, and his flagship company Mineralogy being two years overdue in the filing of its accounts, Mr Palmer told The Weekend Aus­tralian: “All untrue.”

This week, however, he moved 13 resolutions at an upcoming ­annual general meeting at his Palmer Coolum Resort in an audacious bid for $2 million in cash in its accounts. The resort was closed to guests in March.

Mr Palmer intends to run again in Fairfax. He is pinning his commercial hopes on his fortunes being turned around in WA where he made his fortune, only to run the risk of losing it again.