Article by Nick Evans courtesy of the Australian.
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 this week say Australia’s richest woman expects to have a new 20 milliontonne-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 (pictured) 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 next year, linking the mine to the rail and port network built by Mrs Rinehart’s 70 per cent-owned Roy Hill project.
Hancock Prospecting recorded a $7.3bn profit last financial year.
