Article by Esmarie Iannucci courtesy of Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly.
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has marked a decade of operation at the Roy Hill mine, in the Pilbara.
The A$10-billion project shipped its first ore in 2015 and ramped up to its full production capacity of 55-million tonnes a year in 2017. By 2019, the mine was working towards a run rate of 60-million tonnes a year, and in 2021, the mine was approved to increase production to 70-million tonnes a year.
“It’s a mega project which at times we thought may not happen,” said Rinehart, who is the executive chairperson of Roy Hill.
“We are very fortunate our partners proceeded to invest in our project. It represented a massive vote of confidence in our hardworking, then small executive teams. Since then, it has been a remarkable ten-year journey, one that many thousands of West Australians and Australians have contributed to, and which in turn has contributed to our state and country.
“We are especially proud to lead the industry with our representation of women and our support for veterans.
“Our partners and everyone who has been involved in Roy Hill can be extremely proud they have built Roy Hill from a project into one of the best mining companies in Australia,” said Rinehart.
The mine is estimated to have made more than A$13-billion in net profits over the last two years, with the project already having paid off its A$10-billion debt in full.
