Tom O’Leary

Career chronology

• September 2016: Iluka Resources Limited — Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. 2025 Annual Report (pp.36–38; director and executive biographies)

• 2010 until joining Iluka in 2016; exact start/end dates not established: Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy & Fertilisers — Managing director. 2025 Annual Report (p.36, Tom O’Leary biography)

Education and qualifications

Issuer-reported qualifications

Qualifications reported in 2025 report · issuer reported · low materiality

LLB and BJuris; Iluka reports a University of Western Australia law degree and Harvard advanced management program. Independent awarding-body or professional-register records were not reviewed.

Attribution: Responsibility not applicable. Issuer-reported; not independently verified.

Relevance: Credentials relate to professional background, not evidence of performance.

2025 Annual Report (pp.36–38; director and executive biographies)

Business failures and setbacks

Sierra Rutile acquisition and substantial impairment

2016–2022 · documented · high materiality

Iluka acquired Sierra Rutile in 2016 and wrote down US$290 million in 2019 after operating performance fell short of the original investment case. Deloitte identified integration difficulties and higher Sembehun capital estimates. Iluka completed a demerger in 2022. These are company outcomes, not a proven personal failure.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. O’Leary was CEO when the acquisition and impairment occurred; no source isolates his causal responsibility.

Relevance: Capital-allocation and integration record.

Sierra Rutile demerger booklet and independent expert report (Independent expert pp.21–23; acquisition and impairment); 2025 Annual Report (p.10, notes demerger in 2022)

Eneabba refinery estimate and progress

2022–30 September 2026 · documented · high materiality

At the 2022 investment decision the project was estimated to cost A$1.0–1.2 billion. In 2024 the estimate was A$1.7–1.8 billion; Iluka’s September 2026 quarter review said construction was 65% complete, with A$1.237 billion accrued. Commissioning remains prospective, not delivered rare-earth production.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. CEO tenure overlaps the investment and cost revision; sources do not isolate personal causation.

Relevance: Material project execution and capital allocation.

Iluka confirms cost blowout at Australian rare earths refinery (2022 and February 2024 capital estimates); Quarterly Review to 30 September 2026 (pp.1–4, Eneabba progress and capital)

Fraud and corruption

Pre-acquisition Sierra Rutile conduct and discontinued investigation

Conduct before December 2016; reporting and SFO closure 2017–2020 · issuer reported · medium materiality

Iluka said that its post-acquisition review identified conduct before its December 2016 takeover and that it reported the matters to authorities. In 2020 Iluka reported that the UK Serious Fraud Office had discontinued its investigation into Sierra Rutile. Iluka’s 2022 chair described cooperation; this is not a finding of wrongdoing by Iluka’s current CEO.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. CEO led the group after acquisition; the conduct predates ownership and no personal involvement is alleged.

Relevance: Company response to a material acquired governance risk.

Quarterly Review to 30 June 2020 (p.8, Other Matters); 2022 AGM addresses (p.3, chairman comments)

Industrial safety

Contractor fatality at Cataby and Indus conviction

2018 incident; 2020 company conviction · documented · high materiality

A survey contractor died in 2018 following an allergic reaction at Cataby. In 2020 Indus Mining Services pleaded guilty and was fined A$60,000 for failing to provide a safe working environment; ABC reported that Indus had not communicated the life-threatening severity of the allergy to Iluka. The judgment was against Indus; no individual fault by Iluka management is established.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. O’Leary was Iluka CEO; source identifies Indus as convicted employer, not O’Leary.

Relevance: Relevant company/site safety and contractor oversight context.

Quarterly Review to 31 March 2018 (p.5, incident at Cataby); Indus Mining Services fined $60,000 over bee sting death (Court outcome, regulator remarks and communication context); Company fined over bee sting death (Government notice: guilty plea, fine and information communicated to Iluka)

Suitability for the current role

Relevant experience and role fit

Career through 2026 · analyst inference · medium materiality

CEO since September 2016; earlier Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy & Fertilisers managing director from 2010, after Wesfarmers business development and a decade in London finance law, investment banking and private equity. Analyst inference: this disclosed background is relevant to the current role; the company biographies do not establish independent attribution of delivery or performance.

Attribution: Responsibility not applicable. Role-fit inference from disclosed career, not a performance finding.

Relevance: Relevant professional experience and documented limitations.

2025 Annual Report (pp.36–38; director and executive biographies)

Evidence gaps

• Education and professional credentials are issuer-reported and not independently verified.

• Full prior-employer dates and individual contribution to company outcomes are not established.

• Targeted public search is not an exhaustive court, sanctions, regulator or credential check.