25 November is another important date in the Hancock calendar – it is the date that Lang Hancock and his wife, Hope (nee Nicholas) founded Hancock Prospecting. By November 1955 Mr Hancock had discovered vast iron ore reserves in the Pilbara, but there was a state government ban on pegging tenements and a federal government iron ore export embargo. The government believed there was so little iron ore in the country that Australia would be importing iron ore by 1965. A fact for us all, governments don’t have a crystal ball, they can’t guide us well into the future! Mr Hancock spent years advocating for these embargoes to be abandoned, to enable the development of our iron ore resources to the benefit of all Australians. Unlocking the Pilbara has underpinned huge revenue, billions and billions to the tax department, plus state royalties, created jobs and business opportunities around the country, and contributed greatly to the living standards we can have in Australia today. These and other related taxes to federal and state, have helped to pay our nurses, police, defence, veterans, emergency services, public hospitals, public healthcare, pensioners, and more. We would be a very different country without the iron ore industry and gas industry too.
The company history built over decades after the embargos were lifted, however sadly by March 1992, few assets were left, and what was left was primarily under mortgage, including HPPL house, or exposed to numerous legal threats.
Under the leadership of our Executive Chairman, Mrs Gina Rinehart AO, since 1992, HPPL has become the most successful private company in Australia’s history. We have welcomed in a multitude of partners, Rio Tinto Iron Ore into Hope Downs, POSCO, Marubeni, CSC, into mega Roy, partnered with the Daubneys in Bannister Downs Dairy, now we are majority partners in this multi award winning dairy, Shanghai CRED in Kidman, and expanded Kidman into Rossi Boots, Driza-Bone and Kidman hats and cotton, and partnered with SQM and MRL. We are the largest private company in Australia, and one of the largest private mining companies in the world. This success is a result of decades of dedicated hard work, and under Mrs Rinehart’s leadership Hancock continues to go from strength to strength, able to provide secure jobs and reliable salaries, increasing annually, plus other benefits.
Just yesterday, we had another exciting and noteworthy day for the Hancock companies with the opening of Senex Energy’s Atlas gas expansion project. As our Chairman remarked at the opening speech, it was exciting to be now next to Australia’s most technically advanced gas plant, and noteworthy too, as one of the few large investments into Australia, thanks to current government policies. According to the ABS, in the year to December 2023, Australians invested $170 billion overseas, several times more than what had been invested into Australia for the year. This Senex project has been able to proceed after being delayed for well more than a year after state and earlier federal government approvals already received, excessive government tape, regulation and policies that again show that the government doesn’t have a crystal ball. Energy shortages were forecast for the Eastern states, yet the government delayed this new gas project that could add to energy supply. The $1 billion investment in the Senex Atlas expansion will triple Senex’s production to 60PJ/year, equivalent to about 10% of the east coast domestic gas needs. The gas plant itself requires a land footprint, but the footprint of each well, is only a few meters, about three square metres or less including the pump, and after the government delay, provided $800 million into the Australian economy, including $200 million into the regional economy, and will provide years of ongoing benefits, in whose interests was all of this delayed?
As Mrs Rinehart said yesterday, it was a noteworthy day, given “we’re one of increasingly few companies investing in large projects in Australia. The investment flow, thanks to government policies, and despite Australia’s plentiful supply of resources, is going out of Australia.”
The opening came two days after National Mining and Related Industries Day, strategically held at Santos’ Moomba gas field. As Mrs Rinehart said in her NMD speech: “The MCA has warned that 80 percent of the projects in the major resources project pipeline are simply not likely to proceed. It’s no longer a pipeline of nation-building and wealth-enabling resources projects, but primarily a list of casualties of excessive government tape and ideological policies. This should be a wakeup call. The siren alarm has gone off.” When the National Agriculture Day and National Mining Day videos are completed, and after Mrs Rinehart returns from the Mines and Money conference in London, we will hold several evenings for our staff to enjoy these videos, plus the Senex gas opening one, and to celebrate our fantastic and very special company’s birthday.
Our industries – mining, agriculture, and energy – have the highest levels of government tape they and our country have ever seen. And this tape threatens not only investment and Australia’s international competitiveness, but also our standard of living.
We can be very, very proud of the company we all work for, however it is also increasingly vital that we all stand up for our primary industries and remind our friends and neighbours, and others we meet, plus our politicians, of the essential nature of what we do. Without agriculture, mining, and energy, we simply could not live the lives we do, nor could we supply our allies who rely upon us.
Thank you to all our staff for all your loyalty, dedication and efforts, and wishing the best private company in Australia, Hancock Prospecting, a very happy 70th birthday year and successful long life!
