Ronald Brown Manners (born 8 January 1936) is an Australian businessman. He is the founder and formerly the chairman of Croesus Mining, at one point Australia's third largest gold producer. He is currently the executive chairman of Mannwest Group and founder and chairman of the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, an Australian free-market think tank.[1][2] Manners was one of the founders of the Workers Party, subsequently known as the Progress Party,[3] and is a co-founder of ANDEV (Australians for Northern Development and Economic Vision),[4] a lobby group chaired by co-founder Gina Rinehart. Manners' contribution to the mining industry earned him induction into the Australian Mining Hall of Fame in 2011.[5] Manners was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2020 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to the minerals and mining sectors, and to youth through philanthropic support for educational initiatives,"[6] and in 2021 was nominated for the 2021 WA Senior Australian of the Year Award.[7]
Ron Manners | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ronald Brown Manners 8 January 1936 Kalgoorlie, Western Australia |
| Education | Kalgoorlie School of Mines |
| Occupation | Businessman & prospector |
Biography
editEarly life
editRon Manners was born in 1936 in Kalgoorlie, Australia, to a family that had a long association with the mining town.[1] His grandfather, W.G. Manners, the son of a Ballarat prospector, headed West in the late 19th century and established a mining and engineering business, W.G. Manners & Co, in 1895. Ron Manners studied electrical engineering at the Kalgoorlie School of Mines.[1][8]
Career in mining
editIn 1955, Manners assumed management of the family business.[9] He expanded and diversified the company which became the Mannwest Group.[9] He serves as its executive director.
Between 1972 and 1995, he floated several Australian listed mining companies.[9] In 1985, he founded Croesus Mining NL, a gold mining company.[9] He served as its Chairman from 1985 to 2005.[9][10][11][12][13] While chairman, the company produced 1.275 million ounces of gold and paid 11 dividends.[2] He has also served as Non Executive Chairman of De Grey Mining Ltd.[9]
He is Emeritus Chairman, patron of the Australian Prospectors & Miners' Hall of Fame,[1] inducted in 2011 as a "living legend".[8][14] He also served as Executive Councillor of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC).[9] He is a Fellow of both the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.[1][better source needed] He was elected "mining legend" at the 2005 Excellence in Mining & Exploration Conference in Sydney.[1][2] In 2012, he defended Gina Rinehart against Wayne Swan in her bid to invest in Fairfax Media.[15]
Manners was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2020 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to the minerals and mining sectors, and to youth through philanthropic support for educational initiatives,"[6] and in 2021 was nominated for the 2021 WA Senior Australian of the Year Award.[7]
Other activity
editA proponent of the free market, he founded the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation in 1997.[1][2][8][14] He is a member and director of the Mont Pelerin Society and is on the Co-ordinating Committee for the Commonwealth Study Conference.[9] In 2010 he was appointed to the Board of Overseers for the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Washington, D.C.[2][16]
Bibliography
edit- As author
- Mannerisms (1985–2020) (2020) ISBN 978-0-9942638-1-0
- The Lonely Libertarian (Turning Ideas Into Gold—Then Gold Into Ideas) (2019) ISBN 978-1-925-82657-9
- Heroic Misadventures (Australia: Four Decades-Full Circle) (2009) ISBN 978-0-646-52212-8. OCLC 455934757
- Never a Dull Moment (with Charles Manners and Nancy Manners) (2002) ISBN 0-85905-174-9. OCLC 52697697
- Poems of Passion (1979–2020) (self published poems, 2020) ISBN 978-0-959-12030-1. OCLC 222633611
- As editor
- Kanowna's barrowman: James Balzano, 1859-1948: the early history of Kalgoorlie's goldrushes (with George Compton) (1993) ISBN 0-85905-176-5. OCLC 38335683
- So I Headed West – W.G. Manners (1992) ISBN 0-85905-123-4. OCLC 31700388
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Mannkal biography
- ^ a b c d e "The World's Insight Network". GLG.
- ^ "Ron Manners on the Workers Party". '’Economics.org.au'’. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
- ^ "Top end tax utopia all right for Rinehart". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ^ "Hall of fame inductees announced". ABC News. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ^ a b "Queen's Birthday 2020 Honours: The full list of this year's winners". Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment Co. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
- ^ a b "WA's best announced as Australian of the Year nominees". The West Australian. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ^ a b c Rania Spooner, Rebranding the mining industry, SMH, 15 November 2011
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ronald B. Manners, Bloomberg BusinessWeek
- ^ Sandra Eleyn Close, The great gold renaissance: the untold story of the modern Australian gold boom, 1982–2002, Surbiton Associates, 2002, p. 227
- ^ Brad Norington, Good early gold results for Croesus, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 August 1987
- ^ Brad Norington, Croesus claims reserve boost, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 October 1987
- ^ Barry Fitzgerald, South Res faces another attack by shareholders, The Age, 26 October 1989
- ^ a b "Ron Manners: a memoir". ABC Radio National. 31 May 2010.
- ^ Andrew Burrell, Courtly Manners rises to Rinehart's defence, The Australian, 23 June 2012
- ^ "Atlas Economic Research Foundation board".