Gina Rinehart

Early life and family

Rinehart was born in Perth, Western Australia. She is the only child of Hope Margaret Nicholas and Lang Hancock. Until age 4, Rinehart lived with her parents at Nunyerry 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Wittenoom. Later Rinehart boarded at St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls in Perth. She briefly studied economics at the University of Sydney, before dropping out and working for her father, gaining an extensive knowledge of the Pilbara iron-ore industry. Rinehart took her father’s bankrupted estate and rebuilt it to become one of the most successful private companies in Australia's history.

In 1973, at age 19, Rinehart met Englishman Greg Milton while both were working in Wittenoom. At this time Milton changed his surname to Hayward. Their children John Langley and Bianca Hope were born in 1976 and 1979 respectively. The couple separated in 1979 and divorced in 1981. In 1983 she married corporate lawyer Frank Rinehart, in Las Vegas. They had two children, Hope and Ginia, born in 1986 and 1987 respectively. Frank died in 1990.

Rinehart and her stepmother Rose Porteous were involved in an acrimonious legal fight from 1992 over Hancock's death and estate. The ordeal ultimately took 14 years to settle.

In 1999, the Western Australian state government approved a proposal to name a mountain range in honour of her family. Hancock Range is situated about 65 kilometres (40 mi) north-west of the town of Newman at 23°00′23″S 119°12′31″E and commemorates the family's contribution to the establishment of the pastoral and mining industry in the Pilbara region.

In 2003 at age 27 Rinehart's son John changed his surname by deed poll from his birth name Hayward to his maternal grandfather's name Hancock Since 2014, Gina Rinehart's relationship with her son John has been difficult; She was not present at his wedding to Gemma Ludgate. John's sister, Bianca Hope Hayward, who was once positioned to take over the family business, served as a director of Hancock Prospecting and HMHT Investments until 31 October 2011, when she was replaced by her half-sister, Ginia Rinehart. In 2013 Bianca married her partner Sasha Serebryakov; and Rinehart did not attend the wedding. Rinehart's other daughter, Hope, married Ryan Welker, an American director of Mineral Resources (a Hancock partial subsidiary) and they live together in Sydney.

Business career

After the death of her father in March 1992, Rinehart became Chairman of Hancock Prospecting Pty Limited (HPPL) and the HPPL Group of companies. All companies within the group are privately owned. With the notable exception of receiving a royalty stream from Hamersley Iron since the late 1960s, Lang Hancock's mining activities were mainly related to exploration and the accumulation of vast mining leases. In recent years Rinehart has focused on developing Hancock Prospecting's undeveloped deposits, raising capital through joint venture partnerships and turning the leases into revenue producing mines.

Rinehart, via Hancock Prospecting, shares 50 per cent of the profits generated by the Hope Downs mine, which is operated by Rio Tinto and produces 30 million tonnes of iron ore annually. Another joint venture with Mineral Resources Limited at Nicholas Downs, northwest of Newman, is producing 500 million tonnes of ferruginous manganese. The Alpha Coal and Kevin's Corner projects in Central Queensland, both with production due to commence in 2013, are expected to produce 30 million tonnes of coal each. The Roy Hill iron ore project, south of Port Hedland, in the Pilbara is expected to begin production in 2013 with a yield of 55 million tonnes a year.

In 2010 Rinehart took a 10 per cent stake in Ten Network Holdings; James Packer had acquired an 18 per cent stake in the same company shortly before. Since then she has also acquired a substantial stake in Fairfax Media. In acquiring these shares, she has become a major player in the media and no longer limits her interests to the mining business. In February 2012 she increased her stake in Fairfax to over 12 per cent, becoming the largest shareholder of the company. Fairfax journalists were reportedly fearful that she wanted to turn them into a "mouthpiece for the mining industry". In June 2012, she increased her stake further to 18.67 per cent, and was believed to be seeking three board seats and involvement in editorial decisions in Fairfax's newspaper division. Negotiations between Fairfax and Hancock Prospecting broke down in late June because of disagreements over Fairfax's editorial independence policy and other issues relating to board governance; chair Roger Corbett subsequently announced that Rinehart would not be offered any seats on the board. After failing to get board representation she sold her shareholding in 2015.

In 2015, Rinehart was listed as the 37th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes; a decline from her 2014 and 2013 rankings as the 27th and the 16th most powerful woman, respectively.

Later the same year Rinehart acquired Fossil Downs Station after it was placed on the market for the first time in 133 years. The 4,000 square kilometres (1,544 sq mi) property was stocked with 15,000 head of cattle and the sale price was not disclosed, but estimated to be between A$25 to 30 million. Rinehart had acquired a 50% stake in Liveringa and Nerrima Stations in 2014 for A$40 million in 2014.

In October 2015, Rinehart plans to open the huge Roy Hill mine just eight months after she secured $7.9 billion in funding.

Initial shipments of iron ore are to be sent to China.

In October 2016 it was announced that Rineharts company Hancock Prospecting had struck a deal to invest in AIM listed UK based mining company Sirius Minerals to help bring to fruition their North Yorkshire Polyhalite Project.

Political activities

In the 1970s, Rinehart was an active supporter of the Westralian Secession Movement, which her father had founded to work for the secession of Western Australia from the rest of the country. She also had some involvement with the Workers Party (later renamed the Progress Party), a libertarian organisation founded by businessman John Singleton.

Rinehart opposed the Rudd government's Mineral Resource Rent Tax and Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme as part of a group of mining magnates that included Andrew Forrest. She has founded the lobby group ANDEV, ("Australians for Northern Development & Economic Vision") and has sponsored the trips of prominent climate change sceptic Christopher Monckton to Australia.

Since 2010 Rinehart has been actively promoting the cause of development of Australia's North and has spoken, written articles and published a book on this topic. Rinehart stresses that Australia must do more to welcome investment and improve its cost competitiveness, particularly when Australia faces record debt. She advocates a special economic zone in the North with reduced taxation and less regulations and has enlisted the support of many prominent Australians, plus the Institute of Public Affairs. In a 2012 article in the Australian Resources and Investment Magazine, Rinehart said that if people wanted to have more money they should "stop whingeing" and "Do something to make more money yourself − spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising, and more time working". She criticised what she saw as the "socialist" policies of the Australian Government of "high taxes" and "excessive regulation".

In a video posted to the Sydney Mining Club's YouTube channel on 23 August 2012, Rinehart expressed concern for Australia's economic competitiveness noting how "Indeed if we competed in the Olympic Games as sluggishly as we compete economically, there would be an outcry." She said "Furthermore, Africans want to work and its workers are willing to work for less than two dollars a day. Such statistics make me worry for this country's future." Rinehart's views were dismissed by the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who said that "It's not the Australian way to toss people $2, to toss them a gold coin, and then ask them to work for a day" and that "we support proper Australian wages and decent working conditions." The Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, Wayne Swan, described Rinehart's statement as an "insult to the millions of Australian workers who go to work and slog it out to feed the kids and pay the bills."

Hope Margaret Hancock Trust

In 1988, Lang Hancock established the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust, nominating Rinehart as trustee, with his four grandchildren named as beneficiaries. Gina Rinehart was appointed to run the trust until the youngest of her four children, Ginia Rinehart, turned 25 in 2011. The Trust owns 23.6% of the shares in Hancock Prospecting, and as of June 2015 was believed to be valued at about A$5 billion.

In 2011, Rinehart's daughter, Hope Rinehart Welker, commenced a commercial action in the New South Wales Supreme Court for reasons understood to be related to the conduct of the trustee. The action sought to remove Rinehart as sole trustee. Her brother, John, and sister, Bianca, were later revealed as parties to the dispute.

In an agreement reached between the parties, the Court granted an interim non-publication order in September 2011. In making the interim order, Justice Paul Brereton stated: "This is not the first occasion of discord in the family, which has immense wealth, no small part of which resides in the trust. In the past, the affairs of the family, including such discord, has attracted considerable publicity in the media." Then, in a judgement handed down on 7 October 2011, Justice Brereton stated that he intended to dismiss an application by Rinehart, that there be a stay on court action, and that the family be directed into mediation. In December 2011, three justices of the NSW Court of Appeal lifted the suppression orders on the case. However, a stay was granted until 3 February 2012 and extended by the High Court of Australia until 9 March 2012. Rinehart's application for suppression was supported by Ginia Rinehart, but was opposed by Hope, John and Bianca. A subsequent application by Rinehart for a non-publication order on the grounds of fear of personal and family safety was dismissed by the NSW Supreme Court on 2 February 2012. In March 2012, when the suppression order was lifted, it was revealed that Rinehart had delayed the vesting date of the trust, which had prompted the court action by her three older children.

Rinehart stood down as trustee during the hearing in October 2013. While Rinehart's lawyers subsequently declared any legal matters closed, John and Bianca's legal representatives proceeded with a trial in the NSW Supreme Court to deal with allegations of misconduct. The Court handed down its decision on 28 May 2015 in which Bianca was appointed as the new trustee.

Personal wealth

According to the 2015 BRW Rich 200, Rinehart's personal wealth was estimated at A$14.02 billion. Meanwhile, Forbes Asia estimated her wealth in 2015 at US$12.3 billion.

Rinehart first appeared on the 1992 BRW Rich 200 list, published annually in the Business Review Weekly (BRW), following the death of her father earlier that year. She has appeared every year since, and became a billionaire in 2006. Due to Australia's mining boom in the early 21st century, Rinehart's wealth increased significantly since 2010, and she diversified investments into media, taking holdings in Ten Network Holdings and Fairfax Media. According to BRW, she became Australia's richest woman in 2010, and Australia's richest person in 2011, and the first woman to lead the list. During 2012, BRW claimed Rinehart was the world's richest woman, surpassing Wal-Mart owner Christy Walton.

Forbes magazine ranked her as the fourth richest woman in 2012 with US$18 billion; the fifth richest woman in 2013 with US$17 billion; and the sixth richest woman in 2014 with US$17.6 billion.

In 2012, BRW estimated her wealth at A$29.17 billion, with Ivan Glasenberg being her closest rival, with net wealth estimated at A$7.4 billion. At the time BRW stated that it was possible Rinehart would become the first person with a net wealth of US$100 billion.

In 2007, she first appeared on Forbes Asia Australia's 40 Richest, with an estimated wealth of US$1 billion; more than doubling that the next year to US$2.4 billion; and then, in spite of the global financial crisis, by 2011 had more than trebled to US$9 billion; doubled again in 2012 to US$18 billion; a slight reduction in 2013 to US$17 billion; and a slight increase in 2014 to US$17.6 billion. While still Australia's richest person, her wealth had reduced to US$12.3 billion by 2015 according to Forbes, and in 2016 Forbes assessed her net worth at US$8.5 billion, placing her second on the list.

Releasing the results in February 2011, Forbes was the first to name her as Australia's richest person; with BRW conferring the same title in May that year.

In June 2011, Citigroup estimated that she was on course to overtake Carlos Slim, the Mexican magnate worth £46 billion (US$74 billion) and Bill Gates, who is worth £35 billion (US$56 billion), mainly because she owns her companies outright. Using a price-to-earnings ratio of 11:1 that applied at that time to her business partner, Rio Tinto, the Australian internet business news service, SmartCompany, stated: "It is possible to see Rinehart's portfolio of coal and iron ore production spinning off annual profits approaching US$10 billion", giving her a "personal net worth valuation of more than US$100 billion". In January 2012, there were further media reports that Rinehart's estimated wealth has increased to A$20 billion following estimates that the Roy Hill project was notionally valued at A$10 billion.

As of December 2012, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Rinehart was the 37th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$18.6 billion.

Rinehart's wealth rankings since 2013 have been adversely impacted by the fall in the wholesale iron ore price and the fall in the AUD/USD exchange rate. In May 2016 she had fallen from wealthiest Australian in 2011 to fourth with A$6.06 billion, surpassed by property developer Harry Triguboff with A$10.62 billion. Yet according to the 2017 Financial Review Rich 200, Rinehart had an estimated net worth of $10.40 billion, and was placed third on the list of wealthiest Australians.

Philanthropy

In a 2006 Business Review Weekly article reviewing the way Australia's rich support philanthropy, it was noted that Rinehart prefers to keep a low profile, partly to avoid being "harassed by other charities" and partly for reasons of privacy. Rinehart is publicly known for visiting girls' orphanages in Cambodia and is on the expert advisory board of SISHA, a Cambodian non-profit organisation campaigning against human trafficking, in particular by rescuing and assisting sexually exploited women and children.

In 2012 Swimming Australia announced a $10 million funding arrangement over 4 years with the Georgina Hope Foundation in conjunction with Hancock Prospecting. The deal supports the Australian Swim Team through direct payments to elite and targeted development swimmers, as well supporting lesser known sports such as synchronised swimming. The arrangement was renewed for a further 2 years in August 2015 and includes naming rights to various Swimming Australia events, including the Australian Swimming Championships.