Clive Palmer’s ‘big war chest’ filled by $24bn legal claims and $334m in royalties in a bumper year

The Queensland billionaire wants to splurge on his United Australia Party for the next election. Outstanding legal claims and huge iron ore royalties give him plenty of buying power.

Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy received almost $1m per day in royalties last year. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Clive Palmer would be just about the richest person in Australia if all his various legal battles were successful.

Financial accounts for Palmer’s private company Mineralogy that were recently lodged with the corporate regulator show the billionaire has legal claims worth almost $24bn outstanding against the Western Australian government and Chinese mining giant CITIC Pacific.

Details of the potential value of the court action are contained in the accounts, as are the huge amounts of money Palmer receives in royalties from CITIC, through that company’s huge Sino Iron project in WA’s Pilbara.

Palmer’s Mineralogy received almost $1m per day in royalties last year, garnering a whopping $334m from a company he continues to have plenty of legal battles with. The only other revenue Mineralogy got was about $530,000 from its rental properties and about $870,000 in interest.

Clive Palmer has plenty to spend on Craig Kelly and the United Australia Party next election. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Palmer’s royalties have been the subject of legal action but he scored a big victory last year that confirmed the big payday from CITIC, though there is more legal action outstanding as it seeks to mine even more territory in Western Australia for iron ore.

Palmer’s Mineralogy says it has three legal claims outstanding against CITIC worth a combined $4.5bn.

Then there is Palmer’s big fight with the WA government that has gone to the High Court.

Palmer has demanded compensation after the government refused to allow him to develop the Balmoral South iron ore project, rushing through emergency legislation last year to terminate his claim.

Mineralogy’s accounts say Palmer’s claim against the government is worth $20bn.

For now, the royalties are by far Palmer and Mineralogy’s biggest asset. From about $345m total income, Palmer’s company recorded a huge pre-tax profit of $282m – one of the biggest for an private Australian company in any industry – and after paying about $86m in company tax, its net profit was $196m.

It is little wonder then that ex-Liberal MP Craig Kelly, set to be the lead candidate for Palmer’s United Australia Party at the next federal election, recently said he had moved to the party from the cross benches because – thanks to Palmer – it has “a huge war chest”.

With the sheer volume of royalties flowing its way, Mineralogy is in a position to fill the coffers of the UAP in time for the next federal election next year.

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Clive Palmer

• Age: 67
• Lives: Gold Coast
• Estimated wealth: $9.67bn
• Source: Mining, investment
• Secrets of success: Pegging mining tenements in Western Australia in the 1980s and later clinching deals for hundreds of millions in royalties from iron ore projects on his land.

Source: The List – Australia’s Richest 250

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Palmer spent more than $80m on what was a fruitless bid for political power in the 2019 financial year. He and his party won no seats at the last federal election in May 2019 but it cost the billionaire $83.5m in advertising expenses and donations.

Mineralogy’s latest accounts show that donations and advertising expenses dropped to $18.9m last year, presumably including spending on the Queensland election held last October.

That drop in spending, as well as an almost halving in administration expenses to $40m, helped increase Mineralogy’s net profit from $21m for the previous year.

The money flowing into Palmer’s accounts meant he had plenty to spend on during the year. His net assets on the balance sheet rose by more than $200m to $693m, including about $200m in financial assets and $250m in other assets. The latter is an investment in commodities, which increased $130m compared to the previous year, and includes holdings such a rare earths exploration project in New Zealand.

Mineralogy even has turned lender, extending a promissory note worth 130 million Swiss francs ($197m) that matures in December 2068 to an unnamed party.

The company spent more than $40m alone on property, plant and equipment in 2020.

Mineralogy’s accounts show it owns about $15m in land and buildings, up from $6m in 2019, more than $9m in marine vessels – presumably including the superyacht Palmer bought from fellow member of The List – Australia’s Richest 250, Larry Kestelman, for about $8.4m last year, and $44m worth of aircraft at cost, up from $20m the previous year.

Palmer also owns dozens properties in Queensland, including several at Paradise Point on the Gold Coast where he and wife Anna and their younger children live in their main mansion.

More than 12 Paradise Point houses are held in various Palmer family names, including Anna and Palmer’s son Michael.

Palmer also owns mansions on Hedges Ave on the Gold Coast and about 50 acres across several properties in Fig Tree Pocket in Brisbane’s western suburbs on the Brisbane River.