Mining firm Titan Coal Fields wound up owing $2.4m to taxman

A mining engineering company operating in the Bowen Basin is being wound up owing a whopping $2.4m to the taxman.

A mining engineering company operating in the Bowen Basin has been placed in liquidation owing a whopping $2.4m to the taxman.

Titan Coal Fields, which provided maintenance and engineering services to BHP, Glencore, Rio Tinto and Aurizon, collapsed last month with liquidator Jarvis Archer now attempting to find a buyer for the business.

The Moranbah-based business has been bleeding red ink over the past two years, with a trading loss of $476,172 in 2020 and a deficit of almost $900,000 this financial year.

Titan, whose director is Troy Sawdy, blamed the trading losses and the impact of Covid-19 on the company’s collapse. Archer says poor management of the company’s accounts and failure to manage its taxation affairs also contributed to the failure.

Titan has workshops in Blackwater, Moranbah and Dysart servicing the Bowen Basin and also operated in Mackay and Sarina covering the marine and agricultural sectors.

In a report to creditors, Archer said the business will continue to trade under licence for a limited period while a purchaser is sought for its business and assets.

On a more positive note, the larger Titan IND group continues to trade unaffected by the insolvency process of the subsidiary.

LOUNGING ABOUT

Property king Don O’Rorke was spotted on luxury Lizard Island recently enjoying the luxurious surroundings. But O’Rorke hastens to add he is not looking at joining fellow rich-listers Gina Rinehart and Twiggy Forrest in the resort business.

The Consolidated Properties boss tells City Beat that during lockdown he and his partner have been touring some of the best spots in Queensland, including Lizard, Qualia and Spices Peak.

“I can pass these trips off as market research because I am in the property game,” O’Rorke quips. He says he wishes Rinehart, who is buying Great Keppel Island, and Forrest, who is investing in Lizard, well but notes it can be hard for developers to make a buck on resorts.

Developer Don O'Rorke.

“We did some resort development on Stradbroke Island about 20 years ago, but it’s expensive because you have to move everything onto the island,” he says. “It is usually the third owner who does well out of it.”

O’Rorke says 2022 is shaping up to be a cracker year for Consolidated Properties with major projects including three luxury residential riverfront apartment buildings on the vacant site at 600 Coronation Drive, Toowong. Brisbane is set for an investment boom in the lead up the Olympics in 2032 with population set to skyrocket.

SOCKS AND ROCKS

The sad passing of Expo 88 engineer Peter Goldston has evoked some interesting memories from City Beat readers.

Jeff Dowling recalls working with Goldston on the Wivenhoe Power Station construction during the 1970s where the man, who later became pivotal in development of the Expo site, was known for his casual dress.

”I do recall that he had a funny quirk of not wearing shoes in the office,” says Dowling, who was a surveyor seconded to work on the power station. “There was me in my safety boots and Peter in his socks.” Goldston was the resident engineer working on the power station, which sits between the Splityard Creek Dam and Lake Wivenhoe and is the only pumped storage hydroelectric plant in Queensland.