Lai Hong

Lai Hong General Information

Biography

Mr. Lai Hong served as Managing Director at Phosphate Resources. Mr Lai has long and deep links to the mine on Christmas Island. He first arrived on the island in 1978 and worked on the mine for 9 years until the mine was shut down by the previous operator in 1987. He emerged as a leader within the company and also the Union of Christmas Island Workers over that period. Mr Lai, was among four community leaders who collaborated to reopen the mine in 1990, with workers as shareholders, and he has been the Managing Director for the majority of the time since. Mr Lai has taken a long-term and strategic oversight of the company in terms of its obligation to shareholders, the community, the government and other stakeholders. The company has thrived under his leadership, while the community and environment have benefits both economically and otherwise from the company's ongoing investments on-island. Mr Lai continues to drive the company forward and has overseen a strategy to diversify the company's interests from being a single-source phosphate miner to the largest employer on-island, providing diversified products and services, and providing a wider range of products to our global customer base." In 2004 he was awarded the Centennial Medal by the Federal Government for his contributions to Christmas Island and its community.