A court battle over iron ore riches has resumed, as billionaire Gina Rinehart defends her fortune amid a legal dispute over her mining pioneer father’s legacy.

October 5, 2023

A multibillion-dollar legal battle between Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart, her children and two rival mining dynasties over iron ore riches from a project half owned by Rio Tinto has resumed for closing arguments.

Lawyers for the descendants of mining pioneer Peter Wright, Mrs Rinehart’s father Lang Hancock’s former business partner, started off the submissions in WA’s Supreme Court on Thursday.

The complex court stoush that started in July pits Mrs Rinehart’s company, Hancock Prospecting against Wright Prospecting and the heirs of engineer Don Rhodes over the massive Hope Downs mining complex.

Mrs Rinehart is also battling her eldest children, who claim their grandfather, Mr Hancock, left them a hefty share in the Pilbara operation amid a fraud allegation against their mother.

About two dozen lawyers and company spin doctors have packed a Perth courtroom for the trial, which has featured sensational claims made against Mrs Rinehart.

These include that the reclusive billionaire devised an unlawful scheme to defraud her children and allegedly tried to have her father’s wife Rose Porteous deported amid fears she would inherit shares in Hancock Prospecting.

Mrs Rinehart inherited her father’s iron ore discovery in WA’s Pilbara region and forged a mining empire after he died in 1992.

She developed mines from the tenements at Hope Downs, signing a deal in 2005 with Rio Tinto, which has a 50 per cent stake in the project.

Her wealth is estimated to be about $36 billion and she is executive chair of Hancock Prospecting.

The Hope Downs iron ore mining complex is made up of four open-pit mines near Newman.

It produces more than 45 million tonnes each year and is one of Australia’s largest and most successful iron ore projects.

Wright Prospecting has demanded a share of unmined and mined Hope Downs tenements and royalties amid a claim that Hancock Prospecting breached 1980s partnership agreements.

DFD Rhodes is claiming a 1.25 per cent royalty share of Hope Downs’ production, over an alleged deal with Mr Hancock and Mr Wright that saw it hand over tenements in the 1960s.

Hancock Prospecting maintains it undertook all the work, bore the financial risk involved in the development and is the legitimate owner of the assets.

In August Mrs Rinehart criticised media reporting of the trial, referring to claims of a major rift between her and Mr Hancock in the years before he died.

“It’s saddening that media likes to ignore the good if you’re successful and not a socialist,” she told the Australian Bush Summit in Perth.

“Instead just referring to some correspondence when I was very concerned about our family company over a few years.”