Clive Palmer's cattle property passed in at auction
A central Queensland cattle station owned by businessman and politician Clive Palmer has been passed in at auction.
Mr Palmer’s Mamelon Station was supposed to be sold to help raise funds for embattled Queensland Nickel but was passed in on Wednesday when bidding reached less than a fifth of what it was bought for.
The 6258-hectare cattle station near Rockhampton was bought for around $8 million in 2010. The highest bid was $1.5 million.
The property at Marlborough, 135 kilometres north-west of Rockhampton, was the first of Mr Palmer’s property assets sold since administrators took control of his Queensland Nickel refinery in January.
The sale of Clive Palmer’s Mamelon Station was ordered by administrators. Photo: Andrew Meares
Proceeds from the sale were meant to go towards more than $100 million worth of debt owed by Queensland Nickel.
It is understood private negotiations are under way with an interested party.
Mamelon had been scheduled to go under the hammer last Friday but the auction was delayed at the last minute after new mining compensation agreements came to light.
Mr Palmer denied knowledge of the delays and said he had taken a back seat from operational roles since becoming a federal MP.
The sale was through Colliers International’s Rawdon Briggs, Trenton Hindman and Ben Forrest.
Before the auction, Mr Forrest said the property had attracted attention from investors, funds and graziers, as well as private Chinese interests.
The sale of the station does not include cattle. Photo: Supplied
The freehold land has double frontage to the Bruce Highway and a mining tenement in one of its far corners.
The property was to be sold without cattle and without an indicative carrying capacity or overall price indicator.
Rockhampton is known as the beef capital of Australia. There are two abattoirs in the area, as well as one of Australia’s biggest saleyards, Gracemere.
The property includes areas of ponded pasture. Photo: Supplied
Another cattle station in the Marlborough region, Clifton, will go to auction on April 21 in Rockhampton.
The landholding of more than 16,000 hectares, plus a 4122-hectare forestry lease, has been under the same management for more than 20 years. The sale is through CBRE.
Queensland Nickel was placed into voluntary administration and 237 workers sacked in January, while the refinery’s remaining 550 workers lost their jobs earlier this month.
Mr Palmer has outlined five requirements for operations at the Yabulu facility to recommence from July.
With AAP
