congratulations joe procter......, page-19

Joe Procter, Australia's first indigenous banker

who's causing mining companies a few sleepless nights as he re-crafts the way they deal with Aborigines

He's black, a self-confessed capitalist and he's just negotiated a unique mining deal giving some of Australia's most disadvantaged, aborigines equity in a mining venture in the western desert.

The Martu people will have equity in a deal to mine potash so they'll receive not just royalties but a 10 per cent stake of the resources company, Reward Minerals, which will do the mining.

When the deal was announced to the stock exchange, the companies share price rose as did the Martu people's fortunes.

That deal was struck by Joe Proctor, whose determination to make shareholders of Aboriginal land owners shareholders rather than have them accept just a trickle of royalties is really stirring things up in the booming resources sector.