Rinehart own mine plan
GINA Rinehart is set to add a new Pilbara iron ore mine to the portfolio of Hancock Prospecting, the first stand-alone iron ore operation to be built solely by the family mining company.
Documents released by the WA Environmental Protection Authority on Monday say Australia’s richest woman expects to have a new 20 million tonne a year iron ore mine in the market by 2025, with work on a smaller mine to begin “imminently”.
The operation sits on Mrs
Rinehart’s Mulga Downs pastoral property, with the closest mining pit only a few kilometres from the station’s homestead.
The EPA documents show Hancock Prospecting plans to start building a new mine on the pastoral station by the middle of 2023, linking the mine to the rail and port network built by Mrs Rinehart’s 70 per cent owned Roy Hill project.
Mulga Downs, if approved, would likely be the first mine built and operated by Hancock Prospecting without an equity partner – the culmination of a long-held dream of the family mining company.
Hancock also controls half of the Rio Tinto-operated Hope Downs mines, and owns Roy Hill with equity partners Marubeni Corporation (15 per cent), Korea’s POSCO (12.5 per cent), and China Steel Corporation
(2.5 per cent).
But Mrs Rinehart could add tonnes to the iron ore market well ahead of 2025, with work on the smaller 5 million tonne a year Murray’s Hill mine set to begin “imminently”, the documents say.
Hancock Prospecting first sought approval for Murray’s Hill in 2013, planning a small mine to add to Roy Hill’s output. But the tumbling iron ore price put paid to the idea and further work was set aside in 2015.
The family mining company returned to Mulga Downs in 2018, however, and documents released by the company show it has rapidly drilled out a substantial reserve on the Mulga Downs pastoral leases, now believed to stand at more than a billion tonnes – enough to sustain a 30-year mine life on the property.
EPA documents filed by the company say Murray’s Hill is now effectively fully permitted.
“With the provision of a native vegetation clearing permit and mining proposal under the Mining Act, Hancock Prospecting is seeking to commence development of Murray’s Hill imminently,” the company said.
Just before Christmas, Hancock inked a deal to bring the long-dormant Australian Premium Iron Project back to life, joining forces with China’s Baowu, Korea’s POSCO and US company AMCI to restart the project and conduct a bankable feasibility study with a view to operating mines and port and rail infrastructure in the West Pilbara through Roy Hill.
Roy Hill booked a profit of $4.4bn last financial year, as the iron ore price surged, paying a $4.1bn dividend to its owners for the full year, plus another $1.5bn in October.