Last week Genesis Minerals managing director Raleigh Finlayson said the company expected to update investors soon about Mr Power’s role.

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Mr Power, who was chief executive of Andrew Forrest’s iron ore miner Fortescue for seven years to 2018, did not respond to requests for comment.

Seven weeks ago, Mr Power and his son pleaded guilty to breaching WA’s border restrictions when Nick Power flew the family’s helicopter from their Queensland cattle station to Perth in October 2021 without entry permission from the WA government and then failed to quarantine themselves.

The Power’s lawyer said “cognitive distortions” while under stress had contributed to Mr Power’s decision.

Magistrate Woods said the pair wanted to avoid quarantine.

“This was not a momentary aberration, it was a deliberate choice by each of the accused and in my view, it is a disrespectful and foolish choice,” she said.

In 2020, Mr Power was appointed chair of the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission which the Prime Minister said was to “mobilise a whole-of-society and whole-of-economy effort, so we come through this unprecedented health crisis”.

Mr Power’s tenure on the commission, which was downgraded to an advisory board after four months, twice struck controversy.

While Mr Power did not receive a salary to chair the Commission his contract included travel expenses of $294,000 for six months.

There were also concerns about a possible conflict of interest between Mr Power sitting on the board of Strike Energy, which wanted to develop a gas field north of Perth, and the Commission’s advocacy for a “gas-fired recovery”. In May 2020 Mr Power “stepped back” by not attending board meetings or participating in decisions, but remained a director.

He defended his role on the commission and his support for the gas industry at the time, saying there were no conflicts of interest. “I feel very comfortable all of the legal processes are in place to manage that and the commissioners are very aware of their obligations here,” he said in 2020.