Little known coal veteran Peter Doherty enjoys $150 million payday

The mining sector has once again demonstrated its ability to turn little-known entrepreneurs into rich list contenders almost overnight, with Sydney-based miner Peter Doherty the latest to turn his coals assets into a big fortune.

Yesterday, listed coal miner Cockatoo Coal announced that Doherty’s private mining company, Republic Coal, had sold stakes in the Baralaba coal mine and the adjacent Wonbindi coal project to a Japanese steel producer, JFE Steel Corporation.

Cockatoo Coal was Doherty’s former joint venture partner in two assets.

A report in the Australian Financial Review suggests Doherty would have taken at least $149 million from the sale.

Doherty declined to comment today, with a spokesman saying the terms of the deal were confidential.

Republic Coal, based on Sydney’s North Shore, describes itself as a coal mining exploration and development company, focussed on open-cut coal mining opportunities.

Doherty appears to keep an extremely low profile in the mining industry, although as all “overnight” entrepreneurial success stories he has clearly invested a lot of time, money and expertise into Republic Coal’s assets over the last decade.

For example, Republic invested in the Wonbindi project back in 2005, with Doherty previously working as a consultant to Cockatoo.

However, this relationship soured more recently, and Doherty launched legal action against Cockatoo and its executives Mark Lochtenberg, Peter Nightingale and Norman Seckold.

But this case was settled in the Federal Court on Monday in a confidential settlement.

Doherty’s big pay days may not be over – Republic still owns two coal projects in the Hunter Valley and also has a exploration arm that examines projects outside the coal sector.