Crocodile Hunter’s Widow Disputes Mining Rights
May 27th, 2009 | Mining, public relations

Remember how I talked about how the mining industry needs some PR help. Well, here’s example uno, primero, one:

Evidently, an Australian mining company by the name of Cape Alumina Pty made a horrible PR decision.They attempted to claim mining rights on a tract of land owned by the estate of the late Steve Irwin(aka “The Crocodile Hunter”). The company purchased the mining rights for 15% of that particular piece of property in 2004. Their express purpose was exploring the suitability of the land for mining bauxite.

Silverback Properties(owned by the Irwins) came into possession of the cattle grazing rights for the 135,000 hectare (333,600 acre property in 2006. In a highly “generous” gesture, the outgoing Environmental Minister, Malcom Turnbull, gave them $6 Million AUD in taxpayer grant money to purchase those rights. That, as most would readily gather, is nearly two years after Cape Alumina purchased (with privately raised funds, I might add) the mining rights. This was the same conclusion that the Australian courts came to in September of 2009.

It seems that Cape Alumina has found deposits of bauxite that amount to over 100 Million tonnes, during their exploration process. Not content with the courts’ ruling, Terri Irwin(Steve’s widow) and a few of their well known friends are attempting to appeal the ruling in the press. The most recent development was Russell Crowe’s visit to the David Letterman show. Check out the five minutes or so that they take to cover the subject below:



Notice how Russell skates over(never mentions) the fact that the rights were signed over before the Irwin estate took possession of the land. There’s no mention of the ruling in favor of Cape Alumina, either. The actual issues pertain to property rights, and they’ve turned this company’s legitimate right to mine into a defamation of Steve Irwin’s legacy. They are the masters of PR spin and the media domain. They’ve turned this into the moral equivalent of opening a shotgun factory in Kurt Cobain’s mansion.