Next week is NT Resources Week 2021 and earlier this year Energy Resources of Australia Ranger Uranium Mine ceased processing and moved into its rehab phase. I want to give massive shout out to Energy Resources of Australia and Rio Tinto for operating a genuine “Territory” operation with genuine Territory at heart. Many businesses make a big marketing effort to show that they are using sufficient and acceptable local content.

ERA Ranger has never had to do this. As a passionate local Territorian businessperson and from my family’s business perspective ERA Ranger has been the best of all the miners in the NT when it comes to using and growing local businesses. MMC would not be the business it is today without ERA Ranger. They were never too scared to call in the time of drama for urgent response and then honored the service with opportunity on larger projects. This has seen MMC go from a small contractor to a project business and allowed significant investment in our workshops to increase capacity to service the industry.

We have had numerous written and signed contracts for many different projects and services over our trading time and never once have they been opened from either side and even look close to a dispute. In our time trading with we have seen Rio Tinto become major shareholder ERA and move the company to a “big miner” culture. This has been a massive learning for MMC that we did not always enjoy but in the end was one of the most valuable lessons a junior contractor can learn. These learnings have made us be ready for the next step in our business journey and ready for the next level of customer.

MMC has been dealing with ERA for more than 2 decades and we have traded every month of every year since 2003. This is more than 18 years of receiving a PO every month continuously. This is something that must be celebrated. The closure will be a big hit to MMC and our employees. ERA Ranger has always encouraged us to take our apprentices to site and this has been a big part of MMC now being one of the NT’s largest employers of apprentices. We have even had the pleasure of housing their apprentices in our workshops to give them a taste of contractor life.

Now avoiding the argument of why ERA Ranger should stay open, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU from MMC to ERA Ranger and all the good people who have worked there and been a part of the journey. Thank you.