It was a familiar sight in the ASX mining space on Wednesday as shares in Chris Ellison's Mineral Resources tumbled double digits in early action.
The catalyst this time was another road train rollover on the flood-damaged Onslow iron haul road — the sixth such incident since August.
MinRes has temporarily paused haulage on the A$3 billion haul road while it talks to WorkSafe WA following the incident.
"MinRes reported to WorkSafe WA that the rear two trailers of a road train had tipped onto their side on the haul road on 17 March 2025," the miner said on Wednesday morning.
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"The prime mover and first trailer remained upright, and the operator was not injured. The cause of the incident is under internal investigation."
MinRes will keep hauling via contractor vehicles using alternative routes, with company transshippers to keep loading vessels during the haul road downtime.
The miner did not say how severely shipments would be impacted by the accident, though it reassured investors it expected to resume Onslow operations without impact to its fiscal 2025 iron ore volume guidance.
A triple-trailer truck carrying more than 300 tonnes of ore needs to arrive at Onslow every five minutes for MinRes to meet its iron ore shipment requirements.
The indebted MinRes has struggled to catch a break over the past several months; as if the downtrodden lithium market wasn't painful enough, the business came under heavy scrutiny in October last year following revelations of corporate governance issues in respect to Ellison's tax affairs.
It led to Ellison facing more than $18 million in penalties and committing to leave the business by April 2027.
Then came Tropical Cyclone Zelia in February, which damaged the Onslow haul road and prompted MinRes to commit $230 million to repairs and future-proofing the road.
MinRes had to reduce its guidance for Onslow iron ore output in the aftermath, though Ellison remained adamant there were no major issues with the road.
And above all this looms MinRes' high leverage, with net debt increasing to $5.1 billion at the end of December 2024.
MinRes has been punished on the market over the past year, with shares down more than 70% to around $23 from levels near $80 last May.
It had its credit rating downgraded by agency Fitch earlier this month, but one caveat has always come when analysts voice their MinRes concerns: if Onslow can ramp up and operate as planned, MinRes shouldn't have any problems servicing its debt and stabilising its leverage ratio.
It's perhaps understandable, then, that any Onslow issues spark a bit of panic among investors.
Shares in MinRes tumbled 12% in early trading on Wednesday, though they quickly took back a portion of the losses. By mid-morning, the stock was down 5% to $23.61, capitalising it at $4.3 billion.
