Gold Valley Iron Ore Pty Ltd, Odell Resources Pty Ltd and the companies’ sole director, Yuzheng Xie, pleaded guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court yesterday to mining without authority, and the director failing to take all reasonable steps to prevent the offence.
For the offences at Malcolm near Leonora, Gold Valley was fined $1.260 million, Odell Resources $90,000 and Mr Xie $630,000. For the offences at Sandstone, Gold Valley was fined $240,000 and Mr Xie $120,000. The parties were also ordered to pay $12,500 in costs.
Under the Mining Act 1978, it is an offence to mine without authority. This extends liability to officers of a body corporate, making them personally accountable under the State’s Criminal Code.
Gold Valley is part of a diversified group involved in mining, services, bulk transport and civil contracting. The group’s operations include the Wiluna West Iron Ore Project. Gold Valley owns several subsidiaries, including Odell Resources, which operates a haulage business.
In March 2024, Gold Valley acquired full ownership of the Wiluna West Iron Ore Mine. Before this acquisition, iron ore from the mine was trucked to Geraldton Port for export.
By June 2024, Gold Valley secured an agreement with the Port of Esperance for ore exports. Odell Resources was tasked with hauling ore in stages to Leonora, where it would be transported by rail to Esperance.
To support this operation, Gold Valley selected a site near Leonora for laydown and stockpiling, adjacent to the Malcolm railway siding, which would allow for rail transport.
Under the Mining Act, a miscellaneous licence is required for areas used for ore stockpiling and mine support activities, such as mining roads, truck laydown areas, maintenance and refuelling.
Although Gold Valley applied for this licence on 6 September 2024, the company began mining activities without holding the authority to do so.
Stockpiling and transport activities continued from 16 September to 25 October 2024, with Mr Xie coordinating the actions of both companies.
In addition to operations near Leonora, Gold Valley operated another unauthorised site near Sandstone between 17 September 2024 and 31 July 2025. This site was used for transporting, stockpiling and transhipping iron ore. It also included facilities for road train parking, maintenance, and refuelling. Ore from the Wiluna mine was transported to Sandstone before being reloaded for export via Geraldton Port.
Gold Valley had applied for a miscellaneous licence for this site, but it had not been granted for these operations or the installation of support facilities.
Operations at Sandstone continued even after the former Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS) - now the Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration (DMPE) - directed Gold Valley, Odell Resources and Mr Xie to cease activities at the Malcolm site in October 2024. The Sandstone operation was still ongoing up to 31 July 2025, even though the prosecution proceedings for Malcom had commenced in May.
DMPE Executive Director, Resource and Environmental Compliance, Tyler Sujdovic, said the actions were completely outside the established regulatory framework for mining in Western Australia.”
“Mining cannot legally occur without an approved tenement, yet in this case, the company conducted operations, including stockpiling, without the necessary legal authority,” Mr Sujdovic said.
“The situation was worsened by the companies continuing their Sandstone operations without authority, even after the offending at Malcolm was discovered.
“Given the scale of mining in Western Australia, the system relies on operators complying with tenure and regulatory requirements.
“Tolerating this conduct would undermine the integrity of the system and disadvantage those mining operators that comply with their legal obligations.”
Media contact: media@dmpe.wa.gov.au 9222 6102
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