West Australian mining tycoon Ron Sayers, who created a billion-dollar business empire, has died after a battle with stomach cancer and Alzheimer's disease, the ABC has confirmed.
Mr Sayers worked as a fitter on Kalgoorlie's Golden Mile before founding mining services company Ausdrill in his hometown in 1987 with a single drill rig.
He grew it into a billion-dollar ASX200 company, now known as Perenti Group, with more than 8,000 employees working across 12 countries today.
Mr Sayers retired in 2018, aged 65, after 30 years at the helm and that same year was awarded the GJ Stokes Award at the Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum for his services to the industry.
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mayor and former WA Resources Minister John Bowler led tributes for Mr Sayers, saying he leaves a massive legacy in the mining industry.
"I've known Ron Sayers all my adult life and I've watched him go from being a mechanic on the Golden Mile to the head of one of the world's biggest drilling companies," Mr Bowler said.
"I think Ron Sayers's biggest legacy is the workers who worked for him. He was very loyal to them.
Mr Sayers and lifelong friend Peter Bartlett were involved in a high-profile Supreme Court battle for several years over their alleged involvement in a tax swindle.
While the charges were eventually dropped in 2014, the pair were one of several Goldfields businessmen often referred to as the "Kalgoorlie mafia".
"It wasn't that they were crooks or nefarious underworld figures," Mr Bowler said.
Longtime friend Tony Patrizi said Mr Sayers left an enormous legacy in the mining industry.
"Ron was a very, very generous person … certainly a man's man … you'd probably find it very hard to find someone who would speak ill of Ron," Mr Patrizi said.
"He would lead from the front and always had a plan.
"He took the expertise that was developed in the Goldfields all over the world, particularly Africa."
Business grew from humble beginning
In a 2018 interview with the ABC, Mr Sayers said he transitioned from working as a motor mechanic on the Great Boulder gold mine, now part of the Super Pit, to selling mining equipment.
"I was selling equipment to a mining contractor here in Kalgoorlie and inside a couple of years he's bought five or six machines but — more importantly — he had three Ferraris," Mr Sayers said.
"So I hocked my house and bought a second-hand rig myself and grew the company from there."
When asked what he considered to be his biggest achievement he said it would be the continuous involvement with the iconic Super Pit.
"We started there in 1987 with a single drill rig, and we're still there more than 30 years later, with an excellent relationship with the company and I'm very, very proud of that," he said.
Mr Sayers said he would like to be remembered for the workplace culture at Ausdrill.
"Probably that we looked after our staff," he said.
Mr Sayers is survived by his wife Lyn and five children.
