Creditors of NT mine with $360m debt call for more government oversight

Creditors of Nathan River Resources criticise NT government for lack of oversight of mining company Fri 12 Jun 2026 at 9:08am In short: In the wake of Nathan River Resources entering into voluntary administration, creditors have criticised the NT government for its lack of oversight of the struggling company. ASIC documents show the mining company has more than $360 million in debt, including in unpaid wages and royalties. What's next? Small business owners who have been impacted by the mining company's collapse have called on the NT government to take a more active watchdog role. Small business owners and workers owed millions of dollars by an iron ore mine that has gone into administration are criticising the Northern Territory government for allowing it to keep operating for months without enough money to pay its bills. Iron ore mining company Nathan River Resources (NRR) has gone into voluntary administration, with ASIC documents showing it owes more than $360 million in debts, including in unpaid wages and royalties. The Singapore-owned mine on the Gulf of Carpentaria has collapsed and reopened several times over 13 years. The company's debts include $18 million to contractors, $4.5 million to the Australian Tax Office, $2.4 million to Aboriginal traditional owners — paid through the Northern Land Council (NLC), $6.9 million in NT government royalties, $2 million in NT government payroll tax, and at least $900,000 to employees in wages. It also owes $124 million to another miner, Glencore. Nathan River Resources used Glencore's Bing Bong port near Borroloola to export its ore. While Nathan River Resources owes governments and big companies millions of dollars, some of the biggest impacts are being felt by hundreds of Northern Territory, Western Australian, Queensland and national businesses — some of them small and family-owned — that have been left out of pocket. Darwin firm A.M. Cranes and Rigging supplied equipment to Nathan River Resources to the tune of $98,000 in 2024 that it has never been paid. "The impact that it has for us, somewhere that has such a small budget — it's felt. It's really felt," Michael Hansen, the company's operations manager said. "It shouldn't be allowed to occur; we would have hoped that someone would have stepped in sooner to stop the situation or arrest it earlier to stop it from getting out of control." "If the government were aware that they were in trouble and allowed them to keep trading and having an impact on local businesses such as ours, then that's just unacceptable." Humpty Doo Welding and Fabrication owner Adam Marsh said his business would not have kept doing work for the miner in February and March if it knew it wasn't going to be paid $51,000 it was owed. "It's a kick in the guts," he said. "We're in damage control at the moment and fingers crossed they might reopen or we won't get paid." Mr Marsh said his company had been left unpaid by Northern Territory mining companies before. "It is quite common, we've had a couple of bad ones in the past but this is the worst so far." NLC chairman Matthew Ryan said it is "incredibly disappointing" the company has shut down owing traditional owners over $2 million. He criticised the NT government for its response. "The Northern Territory government should be monitoring miners properly, and making sure they are paying the royalties and fees that they are meant to be paying as per their agreements," he said. "The government needs to put their foot down really and I'm calling on the Mining Minister Mr Maley to do so." NT government 'would have known' about company's issues The Northern Territory government is legally obliged to make sure mining companies have adequate funds to meet all their liabilities in a so-called fit and proper person test before they are allowed to start operating. The NT organiser of the Electrical Trades Union David Hayes said it would be staggering if the NT Government did not know the company was struggling after it stopped paying worker wages on time in December, along with all of its government taxes. "I believe that the NT government would have known because there were complaints made," he said. "It looks like the NT government have kicked the can down the road on this, they were alerted." One of the mine's employees, Adam Rice, showed the ABC a letter he wrote to the Northern Territory government in April raising financial and safety concerns about the operation in April. "I received a response from basically just a secretary, it was like, 'we can't do much about private businesses'," he said. "There have just been no checks and balances from government and government departments on this company." He said he is being paid some income on Work Cover after being injured while working on the mine crusher, but it has been a different story for his colleagues. "The other guys have just been left with no wages for eight or nine weeks, and then they weren't even told by the company that they were being terminated, they heard from the administrator," he said. In the Budget Estimates Committee on Thursday the NT Mining Minister Gerard Maley said the government had no knowledge the company was struggling until the ABC reported it in April. "I couldn't give you an accurate date, but when it was in the media that's when I was made aware of it," he said. Mining Department chief executive Alister Trier told the committee: "I think with these things, a lot of these companies go up and down. "We kept a close eye on it," he said. "I don't follow every company's ups and downs," Mr Maley added. The mining minister also revealed to the committee that the NT government holds just $6.2 million from the company in an environmental security bond against mine site rehabilitation liabilities. It follows concerns raised by workers, and investigated by the NT government, about several pollution incidents at the Bing Bong port area and on its own site. The mine's operations have also covered much of the Bing Bong port area in ore dust. Mr Hansen said being stung by the collapse of Nathan River Resources had left his company feeling cautious about taking on work for NT miners. He said he wanted the NT government to start checking much more actively that miners it had given licences to remain financially able to meet their obligations. "Even if mining businesses pass the fit and proper test, there should be ongoing monitoring and checking throughout their term to make sure they can still meet all the obligations and requirements they've got,"he said. Nathan River Resources has not responded to the ABC's request for an interview.