WORTH an estimated $323 million, prospector and BRW Rich List...

WORTH an estimated $323 million, prospector and BRW Rich List entrant Mark Creasy doesn't have
a burning financial incentive to potter about jagged rock formations with a pick and sturdy Blundstones.
But the 66-year-old can't help himself.
"I don't feel like retiring," Creasy says. "I'm not planning to die with my boots on, but it's quite possible."
For Sydney coal stalwart Paul Jury, it's a case of third time lucky as he drives development of Resource
Generation's Boikarabelo mine in South Africa's Waterberg region, a "beast" of a resource that was sitting under
the nose of the majors.
Creasy and Jury exemplify a long list of mining entrepreneurs who have struck the mother lode -- typically from a
single transaction -- but are not about to swap the game for prospector tall tales over tall sundowners. After
making millions in past mining booms, they are back to take their piece of the current one.
Like malaria, mining gets into the blood and the only salve for the itch is the next "once in a lifetime" transaction.
But while the deals have run as richly and thickly as an old Ballarat gold vein, there's growing doubt about whether,
for some, the souffle can rise twice.
Earlier this month, billionaire Clive Palmer pulled his Resourcehouse float and $3.2 billion raising in Hong Kong.
Also in the energy sector, Whitehaven Coal failed in its long-running attempt to sell itself, with reported suitors
such as China's Yanzhou Coal and India's Aditya Birla baulking at the offer price.
Also in energy, Gloucester Coal's attempt to buy three mines from its 65 per cent holder, Noble Group, for $585m
hit some investor backlash.
But asset valuations aren't an issue without a promising project in the first place -- and in this context our one (or
two) time heroes remain undeterred.
The Whitehaven story might look ragged at the moment, but it's still a tale of persistence for chief executive (and
6.6 per cent shareholder) Tony Haggarty.
In 1996, Haggarty sold a Gloucester Basin project, called Stratford, for $31m and ploughed it back into coal. "It
was a pretty grim time in coal," Haggarty reflected a decade later. "It wasn't a popular sector."
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Haggarty's reincarnation -- Excel Coal -- fell prey to Peabody Coal or the US for $1.9bn in 2006. Pipe and slippers
time? Hardly: with $2.68bn market capitalisation, Whitehaven stands as a monument to the try, try, again mentality.
Haggarty, Andy Plummer and Chris Ellis share a side interest: stakes in the would-be tungsten producer, King
Island Scheelite.
Industry watcher Gavin Wendt, of Minelife, says continued success has more to do with connections, especially in
picking up acreage that might have stayed in private hands.
"It's amazing what's out there in terms of private tenements," he says. "It's not that quality has dropped off. A lot
of this acreage is tied up in private company structures and might be getting long in the tooth."
For ebullient Melbourne mining identity Owen Hegarty it's a case of punting on the commodities boom being
"stronger forever" (his mantra of old).
Having built up the Laos-centric gold and copper house Oxiana from scratch, Hegarty saw his beloved "Ox" merge
with Zinifex. The resulting OZ Minerals withered during the financial crisis, when, Hegarty lamented, he "woke
most mornings to the smell of burning scrip".
For the 25-year mining veteran, the lure of the sector still transcends everything. "I don't think there's a golf course
or a beach in the world where people won't find you, whether you like it or not."
These days, Hegarty is chairman of the unlisted Melbourne-based Tigers Realm. "It was always going to be life
after the Ox," he says.
"We are looking to grow a serious mining house, with our favourite commodities being coking coal, copper, gold,
iron ore and uranium."
Tiger Realm has raised $50m for its early-stage projects, but is preparing a $200m-$300m initial public offering.
"You run out of money from family and friends pretty quickly," Hegarty says.
In Hong Kong, Hegarty is involved with G-Resources, which bought the Martabe project from OZ Minerals for
$210m in 2009.
Progress stalled during the global crisis, but Hegarty hopes it will be back in production within nine months.
Through another Hong Kong entity, CST Mining (China Sci-Tech), Hegarty played a key role in acquiring
Queensland's Lady Annie copper mine from WA mining entrepreneur Tony Sage (the asset was previously owned
by the failed CopperCo).
"It's in production and going gangbusters," Hegarty says.
Meanwhile, Perth-based Tony Poli, the 30 per cent holder of coal and iron ore developer Aquila Resources, is
grappling with partner Vale over development options for the Isaac Plains coal joint venture in Queensland.
Poli, who made his initial bundle by selling gold miner Eagle Mining to Great Central Mines in 1997, now sits on an
Aquila stake worth $800m.
Nickel, another stalwart of the WA commodities scene, has also been kind to the early entrants.
Take Terry Streeter, the self-described "ten-pound Pom" who is now chairman and 20 per cent holder of the
producing Western Areas.
Streeter hit the nickel jackpot as a shareholder in Jubilee Mines, the formerly luckless penny dreadful bought by
Xstrata for $3.1bn in 2007.
Sporadically a takeover target, Western Areas may crystallise a second fortune for Streeter, who made his initial
fortune from wholesaling fruit and vegetables.
Fellow 16 per cent Jubilee holder Kerry Harmanis is reputedly spending his days surfing and meditating rather than
planning a resources comeback, but just to prove how hard it is to cure mining "malaria", Harmanis owns a handy
12 per cent of copper junior Talisman Mining.
It's easy to ascribe the jackpots to dumb luck, but it takes a special mix of chutzpah and street nous to understand
the risks. Creasy found the Bronzewing and Jundee gold deposits and sold them to Joseph Gutnick's Great Central
Mines for $130m in 1994.
A lucky strike perhaps, but Creasy points out he started prospecting in 1967.
"When people accuse me of getting rich quick, I say I don't know about quick -- it took me 30 years," he says.
Jury attributes the Boikarabelo find to luck, but then adds: "Maybe it's the experience of doing three deals in the
coal sector. I saw the potential of the deposit and went in there with risk money and explored it.
"What we found was a rich, thick deposit, an unbelievable 6.5 billion tonne resource."
The striking aspect is that South Africans have a 150-year coal pedigree.
But a marriage of factors -- including investor reticence over black empowerment laws -- meant the riches
remained untroubled by drillheads.
"He has been in the coal industry all his life and will show up South Africans at their own process," says one
confident broker.
Paul Jury did well from selling his Coal Mines Australia to a Billiton (now BHP Billiton) subsidiary in 2006 for
$230m. He then sold Resource Pacific to Xstrata for $1bn.
As with Resource Pacific, Jury has only a small stake in Resource Generation, which has market capitalisation of
more than $200m. This is a deliberate policy: a free float attracts more experienced investors and provides capital
flexibility.
"We are at the mercy of shareholders," Jury says, but adds: "I have plenty of hurt money in the investment."
Jury says he has been tempted to stray into other commodities -- or other industries altogether -- but stuck with
brown gold.
"I certainly know it and love it," he says. "I have been tempted, but I found I'm very much focused on big one-off
developments, rather than having two or three balls in the air.
"It was the same with Resource Pacific. We had the opportunity to diversify but we remained very focused on
Newpac", the main asset.
Resource Generation has been methodically ticking the boxes, with mining approval, export contracts, bank funding
discussions and, this month, a major offtake deal and $10m placement with India's RPG Group. "This underwrites
the long-term future of the mine," Jury says.
"The next big driver is to fund a rail project with Transnet. We have put most of the other building blocks in place.
"In the last couple of years, we have done the things necessary to get to the point where it actually happens."
These days, Creasy is sinking $1m a month into exploring a number of tenements south of the Grey River but,
contrary to some reports, his focus is not necessarily gold.
"I'm looking for the periodic table of the elements," he quips.
"I like to anticipate what the market craves and find it early."
But with investments in the listed Kingsgate, Catalpa, Medusa and Azumah, he still qualifies as a gold bug.
Or, more accurately, he believes gold stocks have badly lagged the bullion price. "Gold has soared from a bottom
of $US253 an ounce to around $US1500," he says. "But if you look at gold stocks, they have hardly fared well in
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comparison with iron ore and coal stocks."
Creasy says iron ore and coal are relatively high, but most other commodities have lagged.
But he's not getting carried away by the prospect of a second Eldorado.
"Here in WA we're not raging bears or raging bulls," he says. "We're just swatting flies and wondering what will
happen."
Hegarty, who is also a Fortescue Metals director, attributes his ongoing interest to associating with the likes of
Andrew Forrest and (fellow director and former Olympian) Herb Elliott.
"To be associated with these people and have time with them . . . these guys are just great," he says.
Despite the Resourcehouse hiccup, Wendt sees no reason why the asset merry-go-round can't continue.
"As long as you are not asking too much and have identified tenements with potential you can do it any number of
times."
What's for sure is that there are quite a few mining veterans out there who won't die wondering.