Ken Talbot was the principal shareholder

Shareholder

A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....

 and former CEO of the Macarthur Coal

Macarthur Coal

Macarthur Coal is a mining company based in Queensland, Australia, which was incorporated in October 1995. The company was founded by Ken Talbot, who was a former chief executive officer....

 Ltd mining company. He was the only child of Norman and Nita Talbot (née McIntyre). Talbot temporarily stood down as the CEO of the Macarthur Group Companies when he became embroiled in a controversy involving loans to controversial Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 MP

Member of the Legislative Assembly

A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....

 Gordon Nuttall

Gordon Nuttall

Gordon Richard Nuttall is a former Australian politician who represented Sandgate in the Queensland Parliament from 1992 to 2006....

, who was jailed for corruption

Political corruption

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

 in July 2009. At the time of his death, he was a shareholder in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

n mining company Sundance Resources

Sundance Resources Limited

Sundance Resources Limited is an Australian mining company, based in Perth, Western Australia, whose main assets are iron ore leases in Cameroon near Mbalam, and across the border in the Republic of Congo....

. His personal worth was estimated by Business Review Weekly

Business Review Weekly

BRW is an Australian weekly business magazine published by the Fairfax Media group. It regularly compiles lists which rank corporations and individuals according to various criteria, similar to Fortune magazine in the United States.BRW provides news and commentary on the economy, business and...

at A$965 million.

On 19 January 2007, the Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 Crime and Misconduct Commission

Crime and Misconduct Commission

The Crime and Misconduct Commission is an independent Queensland Government entity created to combat and reduce the incidence of major crime and to continuously improve the integrity of, and to reduce the incidence of misconduct in, the Queensland public sector. The CMC also has a witness...

 charged Talbot with corruptly making payments totalling close to $360,000 to Nuttall. He was due to face court in Brisbane on 30 August 2010 on 35 charges relating to corruption.

On Saturday, 19 June 2010, Talbot was on a chartered flight between Yaoundé

Yaoundé

-Transportation:Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport is a major civilian hub, while nearby Yaoundé Airport is used by the military. Railway lines run west to the port city of Douala and north to N'Gaoundéré. Many bus companies operate from the city; particularly in the Nsam and Mvan neighborhoods...

, Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

 and Congo

Republic of the Congo

The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...

 with fellow Sundance Resources executives Geoff Wedlock, Don Lewis, John Carr-Gregg, John Jones and Craig Oliver, when the plane went missing

2010 Cameroon Aero Service CASA C-212 Aviocar crash

On 19 June 2010, an CASA C-212 Aviocar crashed on a flight from Yaoundé, Cameroon to Yangadou, Republic of the Congo, killing all 11 people on board, including the entire board of Sundance Resources, an Australian mining conglomerate.-Aircraft:...

. Rescuers found the wreckage of a missing plane carrying nine passengers and two crew, suspected to be Talbot's aircraft, in Congo on 21 June. There were no survivors.

On Thursday, 12 August 2010, the corruption proceedings against Talbot were formally discharged.

Talbot's funeral was held on 14 July 2010.