Nathan Tinkler

Nathan Tinkler (born 1 February 1976) is an Australian mining industry executive and was previously the principal shareholder of Aston Resources and Whitehaven Coal. He started out as a mining apprentice in the Hunter Valley, in New South Wales and set up his own business at age 26. Much of his wealth was acquired from investments in the mining industry.

Tinkler qualified as an electrician at the Muswellbrook TAFE and commenced his involvement in the coal industry as an apprentice electrical fitter for Bayswater Coal. At aged 26, he started his own mine machinery maintenance business called Custom Mining.

In 2006, Tinkler paid a $1 million deposit to buy the Middlemount coal mine in Central Queensland. A year later, he sold his Middlemount stake to Macarthur Coal for $275 million with the payment largely in shares. In May 2008 Tinkler sold his Macarthur shares for A$422 million in cash.

Tinkler was named by BRW magazine in September 2008 as Australia’s richest person aged 40 or less with a stated net worth of $441 million at age 32.

In 2008, Tinkler purchased the Maules Creek Mine coal deposit in New South Wales for $480 million from Rio Tinto and floated the vehicle for the deposit, Aston Resources Limited, in 2010 with a valuation of $1.2 billion.

In early 2012, Tinkler was named by BRW magazine as Australia’s youngest billionaire with a stated net worth of more than $1.18 billion.

In May 2012, Tinkler merged Aston Resources Limited and another coal mining company controlled by him, Boardwalk Resources, with Whitehaven Coal creating a leading independent coal mining company with market capitalisation in excess of $5 billion.

In June 2013, Tinkler’s shareholding in Whitehaven Coal was sold to his main financial backers.