By Mathew Murphy
ANDREW Forrest, Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull and former NSW premier Neville Wran will be hoping the gutsy spirit of St Kilda legend Nicky Winmar will be driving shares in his namesake Winmar Resources when it debuts on the ASX today.
The high-profile investors have taken varying stakes in the $7 million issue of 35 million shares at 20¢, which closed over-subscribed for $10 million.
The iron ore hopeful will use the funds to acquire a 51 per cent stake in the Hamersley Iron project from a subsidiary of Cazaly Resources. The purchase puts it in the neighbourhood of Fortescue Metals' Solomon project and Rio Tinto's Mt Tom Price.
The main play for the company is the Winmar deposit, which has a recognised resource of 143 million tonnes with an exploration target of 300 million tonnes.
Mr Forrest's former Intersuisse colleague Albert Wong takes the chairmanship of Winmar Resources, which continues director Nathan McMahon's passion for naming companies after footballing identities - Cazaly Resources (after legend Roy Cazaly) and Hamill Resources (after St Kilda's Aaron Hamill).
Neville Wran joins the board as a non-executive director, with Ben Cooper of junior explorer Global Nickel Investments as executive director.
The venture also reunites Mr Wong and Mr Wran, who together listed Pluton Resources in 2006, the junior which recently saw its share price soar after achieving a native title agreement to advance its deposits on the Kimberley coast.