Well, well, well. If it isn’t Mineral Resources, the ASX’s favorite soap opera, serving up another episode of corporate chaos. On Wednesday, two independent directors, Susie Corlett and Jacqueline McGill, bolted from the board faster than you can say “governance scandal,” leaving investors, super funds, and the ever-watchful proxy advisors at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) scratching their heads and sniffing for smoke. The Perth-based miner, already staggering under the weight of its own dodgy dealings, now faces a full-blown credibility crisis as the market screams: What the hell is going on?

Corlett, a board veteran since 2021, and McGill, a 2024 recruit, weren’t just any directors. They were the supposed guardians of MinRes’s shiny new ethics and governance committee, tasked with cleaning up the mess left by billionaire founder Chris Ellison’s tax-evasion antics and questionable property deals. Their sudden exit—effective immediately, no less—sent MinRes shares into a tailspin, plunging over 9% as investors ran for the hills. And who can blame them? When the people hired to polish the company’s tarnished halo jump ship without so much as a “thanks for the memories,” you know something’s rotten in the state of Western Australia.

ISS, the proxy advisor with the power to make or break boardroom reputations, isn’t buying the silence. Speaking to Capital Brief, they didn’t mince words: the lack of any explanation for Corlett and McGill’s departure raises “serious questions” about what these directors saw behind MinRes’s closed doors. Were they fed up with Ellison’s lingering influence? Did they stumble across another skeleton in the company’s overstuffed closet? Or was the governance “overhaul” they were meant to spearhead just too much like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic? Whatever it is, ISS and the super funds they advise—those deep-pocketed institutional investors who own more than half of MinRes—are demanding answers, and they’re not in the mood for platitudes.

Let’s not forget the context. MinRes has been lurching from one disaster to another, with Ellison’s tax scandal and a $9 million penalty for undisclosed income setting the tone for a year of plummeting shares and shareholder lawsuits. The company’s facing an ASIC investigation, a class action in Victoria’s Supreme Court, and a share price that’s been sliced in half thanks to weak lithium prices and operational hiccups at its Onslow iron ore project. Oh, and let’s not overlook the proxy advisors’ earlier slap-down: Ownership Matters told Iluka Resources shareholders to boot Corlett from their board because of her ties to MinRes’s governance trainwreck. Ouch.

Corlett and McGill weren’t exactly wallflowers, either. Reports suggest they were privately scathing about Ellison’s behavior, which is saying something given the board’s kid-glove handling of his missteps. Their resignations, coming just months after MinRes trumpeted new governance reforms, scream of a boardroom in disarray. Non-executive chair James McClements tried to paper over the cracks with the usual corporate pablum—“We thank Jacqui and Susie for their contribution and wish them the best”—but it’s fooling no one. When your ethics committee walks out the door, it’s not a restructuring; it’s a red flag the size of the Pilbara.

The market’s verdict was brutal: MinRes shares tanked to $16.96, down 75% over the past year. Super funds, already twitchy after Ellison’s shenanigans, are now circling, and ISS’s raised eyebrow could spell trouble at the next AGM. If this is MinRes’s idea of “lifting governance standards,” as they so boldly claimed, then they’re doing a cracking impression of a company sprinting toward irrelevance.

Here’s the rub: MinRes can’t keep hiding behind vague statements and Ellison’s teary AGM apologies. Investors deserve to know why two directors, handpicked to restore trust, pulled the ejector seat. Until they get answers, the only thing mineral here is the company’s dwindling credibility. Buckle up, folks—this one’s got more twists to come.