Article by Adrian Rauso courtesy of The Weekend West.
Gina Rinehart’s mining arm is extending its reach into South America thanks to a US$120 million ($185m) commitment to explore Ecuadorian land rich in copper and gold.
A Hancock Prospecting spokesman confirmed with WestBusiness that $US120m has been pledged to grab a 49 per cent stake in six separate parcels of mining land in the northern part of Ecuador.
Ecuador’s government-owned mining company will own the majority portion of the six parcels, which is customary of all resources ventures in the country.
The latest deal will add to other exploration prospects Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock has near the giant Cascabel copper-gold project in northern Ecuador.
Australia’s richest person is building a major mining portfolio in the continent across multiple commodities.
At the tail end of last year, Brazilian Rare Earths listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and counted Hancock as amajor shareholder via a5.85 per cent stake. BRE is developing the expansive Rocha da Rocha clay rare earths development in the Brazilian province of Bahia State, which hosts a number of rare earths exploration projects.
Its shares have surged 93 per cent on the initial public offering price as hype builds around claybased rare earths projects due to their low environmental footprint.
Hancock is also teaming up with Chile’s SQM ina $1.7 billion deal to grab Azure Minerals, which holds a controlling stake in the Andover lithium and nickel-copper-cobalt project in the Pilbara.
Mrs Rinehart has’ been aggressively diversifying beyond Hancock’s core iron ore operations in recent years. Hancock also holds the largest Slice of WA lithium hopeful Liontown Resources, after spoiling a takeover bid from Albemarle.
