More on Crosby-Textor, mining, and the Nats

Written By: - Date published: 6:53 am, April 22nd, 2010 - 18 comments
Categories: capitalism, crosby textor, Mining, national - Tags:

We all know that long before John Key got into the gold and uranium mining industry, Crosby Textor Chairman, Robert J Champion de Crespigny was pushing the mining industry’s cause in New Zealand.

So, who is this CT man who has been called Australia’s ‘Mr Gold’, a ‘mining magnate’, a ‘resource-sector heavyweight’ and ‘a legend’?

Like John Key, Mr Champion de Crespigny’s started his career as an accountant, unlike Key, though, after that he did a lot better financially. Was this fact, perhaps, what sparked Key’s interest in mining?

Any how, in the mid-80’s, Champion de Crespigny set up a small company, which became Normandy Mining Ltd.  He grew Normandy into Australia’s largest gold miner and made mega millions in shares and cash when the company was taken over by American gold giant, Newmont Mining.

Champion de Crespigny’s most significant connection to New Zealand, before the National/CT ‘secret’, is that for many years his Normandy Mining Ltd had the controlling interest in Waihi Gold Mining Ltd.  That is the company responsible for digging the big hole behind Waihi’s main street.

After his success with Normandy, Champion de Crespigny was involved in dozens of other mining related companies.  He is kind of a trader in all things mining.  He and Ron Walker (former Fairfax Chairman) joined forces over Buka Minerals, which later spun off (ASX listed) Buka Gold, now Fe Ltd.  He then got involved in Scarborough Minerals the result of a merger involving Greenwich Resources plc and Buka. Another of his interests, Mineral Securities, joined with his Buka to form Copperco.

And the list goes on and on with the dozens of companies in turn owned, merged and/ or sold by these companies.

Then there was that bright spark idea to set up a nuclear power company in Australia that Champion de Crespigny promoted, again with, Ron Walker.  That idea went to pieces when Australian Labor’s threw cold water over it.

Champion de Crespigny was also chairman of the Australian Gold Council and a member of the Business Council of Australia and the Minerals Council of Australia.

Currently, apart from managing his own investments, he is on the board of S & B Industrial Minerals and has recently been appointed to the advisory panel for Barclays Capitals’ Natural Resources Investments business.

So, let’s just say that CT’s Chairman is well connected in mining circles and the mining industry is a very small world indeed.

After all, it was Buka Gold Ltd that bought the John Key connected gold and uranium company, Jackson Minerals, after the merger that formed Cauldron Energy.

It’s unclear what, if any, links Champion de Crespigny’s might currently have to Buka Gold, but his old Normandy Mining mate and former director of Waihi Gold Mining Ltd, David Hillier, is theExecutive Chairman of Buka Gold (now Fe Ltd).

[According to a 10 June 2002 Companies Office record, Hillier was a director of Waihi Gold Mining Ltd until May 2002, which is when Newmont took over.]

– Reagen Smash

18 comments on “More on Crosby-Textor, mining, and the Nats ”

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  1. uke 1
    22 April 2010 at 8:40 am

    “That is the company responsible for digging the big hole behind Waihi’s main street.”

    And creating a tailings dam up the road a bit containing 40 million tons of cynanide toxic waste…

    And causing subsidence under people’s houses…

  2. Murray 2
    22 April 2010 at 9:45 am

    So whats your point?

    • insider 2.1
      22 April 2010 at 11:10 am

      There is none. It’s H Fee 2

      • Smokie 2.1.1
        22 April 2010 at 11:25 am

        Insider – It think it’s pretty fucking clear that the point is that there are huge mining interests operating in this country. And these few oligarchs may benefit hugely from govt support for mining.

    • travellerev 2.2
      22 April 2010 at 3:37 pm

      Murray,

      John Key had his election PR organised by a PR company whose board was headed by a man who is a known mining giant and who has in the past been known to have is greedy eye on the New Zealand resources. Not only that Champion the Crespigny is also on the board of the CIS which reads as a who’s who of the banking and mining world including a lady by the name of Ruth Richardson. Yep, the one from Ruthanasia fame.

      So John Key with his mining and Wall street bankster connections knew full well before he was elected what he was supposed to do: to open up New Zealand to his bankster and mining mates for total exploitation. Oh, and as cheap as possible of course.

      He didn’t come back because he loves New Zealand and he wants to give back to the country after his gambling spree on Wall street (Derivatives, Shorting and other malafide business practices etc.), he came back to rob us all of whatever is left before he happily buggers of to a couple of nice board appointments which he can handle from his house in Hawaii.

      The point is that he lied about his policies and would possibly not have been elected if people had known about his mining plans and other nice plans such as cutting 3.8 billion in public spending and giving the money in tax breaks to his rich prick mates.

  3. 350ppm 3
    22 April 2010 at 12:23 pm

    It would be interesting to do an audit of the environmental damage that this individual’s businesses are responsible for.

  4. Anita 4
    22 April 2010 at 6:58 pm

    There is plenty of evidence of links between Australia’s mining lobby and it’s conservative Christian lobby (see the excellent _God Under Howard_, for example). Does anyone know if the same is true in this case?

  5. marsman 5
    22 April 2010 at 7:50 pm

    Douglas Myers is Chairman of a ‘charitable’ organisation which advises mining companies. Does he not also have connections to the same Neo-Liberal hoodwink academies (e.g. Centre for ‘Independent’ Thought) as Richardson and Champion de Crespigni? New Zealand has been hoodwinked and is about to be shafted by the Hollow Men.

  6. Murray 6
    23 April 2010 at 5:06 pm

    Wow now we’ve got evil mining magnates, and a conservative Christian lobby all ready to rape and pillage New Zealand, with John Key.
    Good Plot for a Harrison Ford Film, Not much reality here.
    You guys need to get a life.

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