From royalties to a mining powerhouse
Rinehart's fortune is rooted in her father's discovery. In the early 1950s Lang Hancock spotted large iron ore deposits in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, and in 1955 he set up Hancock Prospecting. Rather than mine the ore himself, he struck a deal with what became Rio Tinto, which developed the deposits and paid him royalties. Those royalties funded the family for decades.
When Hancock died in 1992, Gina Rinehart became executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting. Her inheritance was therefore the starting point, and her wealth is not self made. The company she took over was, by her account, burdened with debts and disputes. Over the following years she turned it from a royalty collector into an active mine developer.
The first major step was Hope Downs, a joint venture with Rio Tinto that began shipping ore in 2008. The second, and larger, was Roy Hill, a mine, railway and port project in the Pilbara that Hancock developed with partners from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Roy Hill exported its first ore in 2015. Strong Chinese demand for iron ore over the following years made these projects highly profitable and greatly increased the value of the family company.
Hancock's mines, farms and rare earths
Hancock Prospecting is privately owned, and its interests include:
- Roy Hill: an integrated iron ore mine, railway and port operation, owned with Marubeni, POSCO and China Steel
- Hope Downs: iron ore mines run with Rio Tinto
- Atlas Iron: a Pilbara iron ore company acquired in 2018
- Agriculture: cattle stations through S. Kidman & Co, bought in 2016 with a Chinese partner, along with other pastoral holdings, making the group one of Australia's largest beef producers
- Critical minerals: stakes in rare earth producers Lynas Rare Earths and MP Materials, in Arafura Rare Earths, and in lithium companies, including Liontown Resources and Azure Minerals, which it bought with Chile's SQM
The group has also invested in oil and gas exploration and, at times, in media, including past stakes in Fairfax Media and Network Ten.
Rinehart remains executive chairman. Because Hancock Prospecting is private and pays dividends from iron ore profits, the company has been able to fund new ventures largely from its own cash.
Growing up with Lang Hancock
Georgina Hope Hancock was born in Perth in 1954, the only child of Lang Hancock and his second wife, Hope Hancock. She spent much of her childhood on the family's Pilbara station, Mulga Downs, before attending boarding school in Perth. She began studying economics at the University of Sydney but left to work alongside her father.
She learned the business at his side over the 1970s and 1980s, traveling with him and becoming closely involved in his efforts to promote mining in the north of Western Australia.
Her relationship with her father became strained after he married Rose Porteous in 1985. After his death, Rinehart and Porteous fought a long legal battle over his estate and the circumstances of his death, which was eventually settled.
Rinehart has four children. From 2011 a dispute over control of the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust, a family trust holding shares in Hancock Prospecting, led several of her children to take her to court. The litigation, which later widened to claims over the company's iron ore assets, has been one of the longest running family legal disputes in Australian business.
Sport sponsorship and advocacy
Rinehart's most visible support for public causes is in sport. Hancock Prospecting has been a major sponsor of Swimming Australia, Rowing Australia, Volleyball Australia and other Olympic sports, as well as individual athletes. She has often attended major swimming events and been publicly thanked by the teams.
She has also funded medical research and community programs in Western Australia, and Hancock supports organizations in the regions where it mines, including Aboriginal community programs.
Rinehart is an outspoken advocate for the mining industry, lower taxes and less regulation. She founded the group Australians for Northern Development and Economic Vision to promote the economic development of northern Australia, and she has written books of essays and poems setting out her views.
Her public profile has led to clashes with critics, including a well publicized dispute in 2024 when she objected to a portrait of her displayed at the National Gallery of Australia. She rarely gives interviews but speaks at industry events and publishes statements through Hancock.