A billionaire Australian mining boss says he wants to “hold staff captive all day” – not leaving the office even to buy a cup of coffee.

Mineral Resources founder and managing director Chris Ellison made the statement at a financial results presentation on Thursday.

“I don’t want them leaving the building … I don’t want them walking down the road for a cup of coffee. We kind of figured out a few years ago how much that cost,” he said.

Ellison, who has already banned working from home for Minerals Resources’ staff, said the rest of the mining industry should “get on board” with his thinking.

“I have a no-work-from-home policy,” he said.

“I wish everyone else would get on board with that – the sooner the better. The industry can’t afford it.”

Ellison, who was paid $6 million last year, criticised other businesses that allowed staff to work from home.

“We can’t have people working three days a week and picking up five days a week pay – or four days,” he said.

Mineral Resources has 5600 employees. In the 12 months to June 30, its net profit more than halved to $114 million but cashflow was up 9 per cent at $1.9 billion, including iron ore prepayments of $600 million.

The company has installed plenty of amenities at its Perth headquarters, including a day-care centre with capacity for 105 children.

“Another reason for them (parents) to come in and enjoy work,” he said.

“Drop their little tykes off next door. We have doctors on board and nurses who are going to feed them, but mum and dad will be working in our office.”

Ellison said the office was “a place that a lot of our people want to be”.

“They love working in there,” he said. “We’ve got a restaurant in there, we’ve also got a gym, and we’ve got other facilities that keep them glued in there.”

Ellison’s comments came in the same week that Australian workers gained the so-called “right to disconnect” – laws allowing them to refuse to read or respond to work-related calls, texts and emails outside their working hours, unless that refusal is unreasonable.

Elsewhere, warned of challenging months ahead for Mineral Resources after the lithium price slump crushed its annual profit, forcing it to rule out dividend payments.

“We’re throwing everything off the deck just to make sure we conserve cash,” he said in Thursday’s webcast.

“It’s not a fun time. I mean this is the sh–tiest time to be the MD of a company.”

The achieved price of lithium fell by more than three- quarters (76 per cent) to $US1279 per dry metric tonne, from $US5267, in the previous financial year.

Ellison said no lithium producers were making money at that price but the management team had decades of experience riding out commodity peaks and troughs.

“Given the stubborn lithium price and our remaining investment in Onslow Iron, we will continue to take a conservative approach during FY25, deferring expansion projects and focusing on cost reduction and cash preservation,” he said.

The mining services division, which is less affected by commodity swings, delivered record underlying earnings of $550 million, an increase of 14 per cent.

To preserve cash, the board decided not to declare a final dividend for 2023/24.

-with AAP