Gold Valley and owner Yuzheng Xie fined more than $2.3 million for unlawful mining in Leonora and Sandstone

Gold Valley and its owner Yuzheng Xie have been fined more than $2.3 million for unauthorised mining near Leonora and Sandstone. Gold Valley Iron Ore Pty Ltd, Odell Resources Pty Ltd and the companies’ sole director, Yuzheng Xie, pleaded guilty in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday 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 $1.26m, 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. In a media statement on Friday, the Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration said Gold Valley had acquired full ownership of the Wiluna West iron ore mine in March 2024. The department said before this acquisition iron ore from the mine was trucked to Geraldton port for export. However, by June 2024, Gold Valley had secured an agreement with Port of Esperance for ore exports and Odell Resources was tasked with hauling ore in stages to Leonora, where it would be transported by rail to Esperance. The department said 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. The department said although Gold Valley applied for this licence on September 6, 2024, the company began mining activities without holding the authority to do so. Stockpiling and transport activities continued from September 16 to October 25, 2024, with Mr Xie co-ordinating the actions of both companies. The department said in addition to operations near Leonora, Gold Valley operated another unauthorised site near Sandstone between September 17, 2024 and July 31, 2025. This site was used for transporting, stockpiling and transhipping iron ore, and 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 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 July 31, 2025, even though the prosecution proceedings for Malcom had started in May. DMPE executive director, resource and environmental compliance Tyler Sujdovic said the actions were completely outside the established regulatory framework for mining in WA. “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.”