Gina Rinehart and rival heirs brace for court verdict on claim to billion-dollar fortune | Gina Rinehart
Gina Rinehart faces the prospect of losing billions of dollars in wealth from her Pilbara iron ore empire and her title as Australia’s richest person when the long-awaited court verdict was announced in Perth on Wednesday.
The Western Australian supreme court ruling will decide whether Rinehart can share the spoils of some of Hancock Prospecting’s most lucrative iron ore projects with the family of her late father’s business partner.
At stake are billions of dollars in royalties and assets stemming from residences that his father, mining pioneer Lang Hancock, and his business partner Peter Wright fixed through the Hanwright partnership in the 1950s and 1960s.
At the center of the claim is the lucrative Hope Downs mining complex near Newman in Western Australia’s north-west, which is a joint venture between Hancock Prospecting and Rio Tinto and will generate profits for Hancock Prospecting of $832 million in 2025.
Wright family heirs, including billionaire Angela Bennett and her nieces Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt, claim they are entitled to an equal share of the 2.5% royalties from Hope Downs to Hancock Prospecting, saying Wright Prospecting never gave up Hanwright’s assets.
Hancock Prospecting denies the claim to both past and future royalties, arguing that it undertook all the work, bore the financial risk of the development, and is the legitimate owner of the Hope Downs assets.
In another claim that forms part of the Leviathan lawsuit, the family business of late prospector Don Rhodes says it owns a 1.25% share of the disputed royalty stream.
The decision, which came more than two years after the complex legal case was heard, is expected to be appealed regardless of the outcome, further prolonging the bitter stagnation that has lasted nearly two decades.
Judge Jennifer Smith will also rule on a lawsuit filed by two of Rinehart’s own children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, who accuse their mother of committing a “horrible fraud” against them.
The children allege that their mother was responsible for transferring assets out of a trust following Lang Hancock’s death in 1992, stripping them of valuable property that they argue they should have had the right to develop.
The trust formed part of the 49% stake in Hancock Prospecting allegedly held by the children, which is also in dispute.
After being ordered to join the case by the Wright family in 2016, the boys hope the ruling will rule that they are entitled to royalties and profits from a number of projects developed by Rinehart following Hancock’s death, including the Roy Hill megamine, a cornerstone of Rinehart’s empire.
Rinehart and While Hancock Prospecting denied all allegations, Rinehart’s lawyers said Rinehart’s actions in moving mining assets back to his company were taken to correct a historical mistake made by his father.
They allege that Hancock shuffled through company assets while trying to maintain the “lavish” lifestyle of Rinehart’s nemesis, stepmother Rose Porteous.
Wednesday’s high court ruling will also inform a separate federal arbitration process, chaired by former WA chief justice Wayne Martin, that will decide how Hancock Prospecting’s shares are divided among the family.
While John and Bianca press the claim for claimed rights, Rinehart’s four children will also benefit if the court rules in their favor.
Hancock Prospecting denied the claim but the latest situation annual report It shows that more than $6.4 billion in dividends have been reserved pending the outcome of the arbitration.
