Mundine’s Aura under mushroom cloud

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ANTHONY KLAN

A struggling uranium exploration company that lavished anti-Indigenous Voice campaigner Warren Mundine with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of remuneration in just his first 18 months has suffered a fierce rebuke from its shareholders.

Aura Energy has received a “strike” against its remuneration report, with 33 per cent of investors rejecting it — substantially above a red-line threshold of 25 per cent.

If the ASX-listed company receives a second strike next year it will force a shareholder vote on whether to spill the entire board.

At Aura Energy’s annual general meeting, held in Melbourne last Wednesday, there was also a significant vote against the re-election of Mundine as director.

Director Bryan Dixon was also up for re-election.

Dixon received 98.2% votes in favour and 1.8% against — a typical outcome for such resolutions — while the re-election of Mundine received a hefty 28.5% of votes against, with 71.5% in favour.

The re-election of directors and other “ordinary resolutions” are determined on simple majority, so both Dixon and Mundine were re-elected.

Mundine is one of three members of Aura Energy’s “remuneration committee”.

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Mundine and Price were the faces of the “No” campaign. Source: Fair Australia/Advance

Mundine, along with Senator Jacinta Price, was the face of the “No” campaign against the Indigenous Voice to parliament and aggressively railed against the so-called “elite”.

In the year to June 30, Aura Energy delivered a $6.8m loss, double its loss of $3.4m the year before, yet issued remuneration of more than $2m to its directors, including Mundine.

“Share based payments” of $2.47m to “directors, executives and senior consultants” were a “primary driver” of its $6.8m loss, the company’s audited accounts state.

Since being appointed to Aura Energy in December 2021, Mundine has received reported remuneration of at least $403,000 for his part-time role with the company.

As previously reported, that is comprised of 3 million “loan funded shares” Mundine has been given in Aura Energy, worth $328,459, on top of his annual director’s salary of $40,000.

The loan funded shares must meet certain hurdles to “vest”, including the share price meeting hurdles ranging from 50c to $1. The value of the loan funded shares at each reporting date has been calculated by Aura Energy.

As reported by The Klaxon last week, Mundine is also set to be paid $120,000 a year as chairman of Fuse Minerals, another struggling “minerals exploration” company.

Mundine began heavily spruiking Fuse Minerals on social media after the Voice referendum ended last month.

Two weeks ago the company went to the public seeking to raise up to $10m, despite having never earned a cent in revenue or having conducted any significant minerals exploration.

Fuse Minerals had net current assets of just $178,749 at June 30, its prospectus shows.

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Mundine’s latest resources company bonanza, Fuse Minerals. Source: The Klaxon

It is seeking to sell up to 50m shares at 20c a share in a “highly speculative” offer.

Mundine has 500,000 shares and 2 million options in Fuse Minerals, its prospectus shows. In March Mundine was given an advance of “$55,250 plus GST”, the only Fuse minerals director to be paid in advance, the document shows.

Fuse Minerals must raise at least $6m to proceed with the raising. If successful, it plans to list on the ASX on December 18.

Mundine has refused to respond to requests for comment.

Mundine was elected Aura Energy director on December 21, 2021, in what appears to be his first directorship of a mining or resources company.

That same day Aura Energy approved the issue of millions of “loan funded shares” to directors, including 2m to Mundine.

Late last year, millions more loan funded shares were approved to be issued to directors, including 1m to Mundine.

At Aura Energy’s annual general meeting last year, following the first batch of shares, there was a significant, 14.7 per cent vote against its remuneration report (although it was below the 25 per cent threshold).

As previously reported, on the specific question of whether to award Mundine the 2m loan funded shares, one-third of votes were opposed.

(It only required a simple majority to pass, so the remuneration to Mundine was awarded).

Aura Energy has “two key projects” — the “Tires Project” in Mauritania, which it is “preparing for development”; and a proposed “Haggan Project” in Sweden, its website states.