Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting posts $5b profit
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting warned that Australia was falling behind in the race to attract investment in downstream minerals processing as the nation’s richest person exerts her influence on Western Australia’s lithium industry.
Hancock posted a reduced $5.04 billion annual profit driven by weaker iron ore prices for output from its Roy Hill mine in WA. Australia’s biggest private company is all but debt-free with total assets of $38 billion and borrowings of $363 million.
Gina Rinehart’s lithium interests have expanded to include Azure Minerals. Trevor Collens
The 2022-23 result is down on the $5.81 billion profit achieved the previous year.
The latest Hancock results also provide a glimpse into the billions held in trust amid a legal battle raging between Mrs Rinehart and two of her children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart.
Federal arbitration before a panel led by former WA chief justice Wayne Martin has concluded with a decision expected to be delivered soon, according to Hancock.
The dispute centres on the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust which holds a 23.4 per cent share in Hancock Prospecting on behalf of Mrs Rinehart’s four children.
In a statement with its financial results issued on Tuesday, Hancock detailed discretionary dividends to family members of $781 million down from more than $1 billion.
The amount set aside pending resolution of the arbitration increased to $5.44 billion as of September 30.
The dispute with John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart is separate to a high stakes legal battle between Hancock and Wright Prospecting playing out in the WA Supreme Court.
There was little reference to Hancock’s $2 billion-plus foray into WA lithium through strategic stakes in Liontown Resources and Azure
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