Iron ore miner tapping Alan Bond’s former resort island off the Kimberley put into administration

The Hong Kong company mining Alan Bond’s former resort island off the Kimberley has collapsed into administration, with the State Government among its creditors. KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker and John Bumbak were put into Cockatoo Island Mining Pty Ltd (CIM) as administrators by its directors late on Tuesday, taking control of the company’s iron ore operations on its small namesake island in the Buccaneer Archipelago. The duo were “conducting an urgent assessment” of the company’s finances to find out how much it owes, KordaMentha said. Last month, The West Australian revealed CIM was being pursued by the Government over unpaid royalties. The Government again declined to reveal the size of the unpaid bill on Wednesday, even though it will become public as part of the administration. CIM also faced a wind-up order from its shipping manager, Norway’s OSM Thome. Approvals were in place for both open pit and underground mining at Cockatoo Island, with about $21.1 million poured into operations by CIM during the 2025 financial year, Government records show. The company is ultimately controlled by Choi Lai Kuen — a Hong Kong resident. In 2020, Ms Choi’s CIM took ownership of the island’s then mothballed seaside mine in a move that caused anxiety among Australian defence officials given its proximity to the Yampi Sound Defence Training Area. Mining on the 6km-long island quietly resumed in November 2024 after a nine-year hiatus and ore exports restarted in April last year. The ultra high-grade deposits of iron ore at Cockatoo Island and the nearby Koolan Island have been mined by various operators, including BHP, for more than a century. Iron ore was first recovered from Cockatoo Island in the 1880s and the key Seawall pit produced about 45 million tonnes of the steel-making commodity between 1951 and 2015, with iron ore grades as high as 67 per cent. “The Cockatoo Island project is a rare asset,” Mr Tucker said. “It has produced some of the highest-grade iron ore ever shipped from Australia across a 70-year operating history, with established port and export infrastructure. ”Once we complete our assessment of the company’s financial position, we intend to move quickly to a sale or recapitalisation process. “We expect strong interest, given the transition to low-emissions steel-making is driving demand for precisely the high-quality iron ore produced at the mine.” Cockatoo Island gained brief fame during the 1980s for a plush resort developed by Mr Bond in his heyday. Cockatoo Island Resort was promoted as one of Australia’s most exclusive tourism havens when it opened in 1989, offering well-heeled visitors luxury accommodation in 20 bungalows and the use of a health club, tennis courts and a clifftop infinity pool with sunset views. However, it quickly became a casualty of the collapse of Mr Bond’s business empire. Sold off by bankers in the early 1990s, it operated for only a few more years before closing. Outside of mining, the island is the focus of a Government-approved plan by a US-backed Australian company to build a $300 million marine and aviation logistics base. Perth-registered Crestlink Pty Ltd’s proposal includes a sealed airstrip that will replace Cockatoo Island’s current dirt runway, a wharf, and a subsea workshop. The Crestlink plan involves redevelopment of some of the port infrastructure built to support iron ore mining on the island by BHP over 40 years from the 1940s. During the BHP period, the island was home to dozens of families who lived in a bustling town spread over its hills. Some of the 40 staff houses built by the mining giant, along with the island’s pub, were refurbished and incorporated into the Bond tourism venture after BHP quit the island in 1986.