Vale Ron Sayers

https://thewest.com.au/business/mining/wa-mining-legend-ron-sayers-dies-aged-70-c-6730458

WA mining legend Ron Sayers dies aged 70

Stuart McKinnonThe West Australian
Mon, 9 May 2022 12:50PM
Stuart McKinnon


Ron Sayers at the Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie in 2018. Credit: Tori O'Connor/The West Australian

WA mining entrepreneur and industry veteran Ron Sayers has died aged 70.

Mr Sayers died about 5am on Monday at his home after a short battle with stomach cancer.

Described as a “legend of Kalgoorlie”, Mr Sayers started his career as an apprentice mechanic in the Goldfields town and subsequently launched his drilling business Ausdrill with just one rig.
Over the next 30 years, Ausdrill would grow into an ASX-listed drilling giant that employed more than 5000 people across Australia and Africa.


Ron Sayers at Ausdrill. Credit: Steve Ferrier/Kalgoorlie Miner

Alex McCulloch, who headed Ausdrill’s Australian division for eight years, said Mr Sayers had fitted about 500 years worth of life into his 70 years.
“As good a businessman as Ron was, he was a better bloke, a better people person,” he said.
“The thing I always remember about Ron is people talk about an open-door policy and you can walk in at any time and the MD will talk to you - he took that to the Nth-degree. He was all about people.
“He was a ripper.”


Ron Sayers at Yarradale Stud. Credit: Michael Wilson/The West Australian

WA mining veteran and company director Mark Connelly described Mr Sayers as “a legend of the industry, a Kalgoorlie legend, an absolute quality guy and one of my best mates”.
“He not only started businesses, he helped other people start businesses,” he said.
“We spent a lot of time together, travelling, drinking a lot of beer and having a lot of fun.”

Long time friend and neighbour Tony Patrizi, who co-founded another mining services business in GR Engineering with Joe Ricciardo, said WA had “lost an amazing man who thought that obstacles were things that you could go past”.

Kalgoorlie businessman Ashok Parekh described Mr Sayers as a “Kalgoorlie legend and a lovely bloke who had helped many people in the Goldfields”.

Mr Sayers rode the ups and downs of the mining services game, with Ausdrill coming close to the brink in 2000 and surviving a hostile takeover from Macmahon in 2009, which he said “cost him a lot of money” to defend.

A watershed moment for Ausdrill came in 2018 when it announced a $700 million merger deal with underground mining company Barminco, another Kalgoorlie business started by Mr Sayers long-time friend and business associate Peter Bartlett. The company was renamed Perenti in 2019.
The business partners had previously the subject of charges of tax fraud conspiracy after being caught up in the Wickenby probes. Prosecutors dropped the charges after two juries failed to reach verdicts in separate trials.

Mr Sayers also survived a stroke in the late 1990s, which took him a year of rehabilitation.
He was honoured at the annual Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie in 2018 with the G. J. Stokes Memorial Award for services to the mining industry.


Ron Sayers at Yarradale Stud with one of his racehorses Warchant. Credit: Michael Wilson/The West Australian

Mr Sayers was also a legend of the WA racing industry and one of the State’s biggest thoroughbred breeders and racehorse owners.
His most recent public appearance was at a WA Mining Club lunch in December, when more than 700 people came to hear him speak.

Kalgoorlie Mayor John Bowler described Mr Sayers’ passing as “a sad day for Kalgoorlie”.
“He was a great Goldfielder who went from being a mechanic to being the head of an international drilling company and the name Ausdrill said it all,” he said.
“The great thing about Ron Sayers was he never forgot where he came from and he never forgot those who worked for him. He put them ahead of everything and as a result every friend he’s ever had in his life is still a friend.”

Mr Sayers is survived by his wife Lyn, three daughters and two sons.