Gina Rinehart’s flagship iron ore mine lays off workers
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Iron Ore is cutting jobs as part of a plan to keep its massive Roy Hill mine in Western Australia running for another decade.
It was not stated how many jobs would be lost, but a spokesman told AAP that the figure of 300 to 500 circulating in some media outlets was inaccurate.
The West Australian actor suggested on Wednesday that more than 150 roles would be booked.
The mine employs approximately 2,800 people, making it one of the largest mines in Australia.
The move comes after Hancock Iron Ore completed an annual operational review to determine how ore is mined, processed and blended across its operations.
“We are constantly trying to optimize our mine plan and the latest update is extending the life of our mine by 10 years, maximizing how much of the orebody we can turn into product and reducing the amount of waste we produce,” a spokesman said.
As a result, Hancock must reduce mining operations at Roy Hill while maintaining the production rate for the Roy Hill system above 63 million tonnes per annum.
“We are working on the impact and will work with anyone affected,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier this week, Hancock Prospecting announced a significant investment in the global initial public offering of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the stake is worth more than US$1 billion ($1.4 billion).
SpaceX shares rose 40 per cent in the three trading days since the company joined the US Nasdaq exchange and closed at US$192.50, well above its most recent issue price of US$135.
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