MELBOURNE: Mining magnate Sam Chong has become Australia’s first Malaysian-born billionaire as revealed by the latest Business Review Weekly (BRW) Richest 200 list.
A self-made man, Chong, 69, who was born in Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, increased his wealth by A$50mil (RM153.623mil) from last year’s A$950mil (RM2.918bil).
Another Malaysian is close to joining the Billionaires’ Club. He is award-winning Queensland property developer Maha Sinnathamby, 72, who is listed as having A$820mil (RM2.519bil) and his kitty is increasing rapidly by the month.
Chong, who is married with one child, came to Australia in 1973 to study mining engineering at the University of New South Wales, Sydney in 1973.
BRW, Australia’s leading business magazine, said Chong held a range of mining roles after graduating before taking a position with Queensland Coal Mine Management, now known as Jellinbah Group, in the 1980s.
There he worked with millionaires Jim Gorman and the late Ken Talbot before they left to pursue other ventures.
Chong maintains a 23 percent stake in the company, which has 70 per cent interests in two small-sized coal mines in the Bowen Basin in central Queensland and is in the process of d
eveloping another one.
Chong, who lives in Brisbane, also has an extensive property portfolio in and around Brisbane with his A$70mil (RM215mil) apartment and hotel development in Brisbane’s Central Business District (CBD)due for completion late next year.
Sinnathamby’s is a classic story of hard and dedicated work paying off.