Gina Rinehart

Gina Rinehart
Image	; Gina Rinehart
Born	9 February 1954
Nationality	Australia
Occupation	Mining executive
Known for	Executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting
Parents	Lang Hancock (father)
Children	4

Australian mining executive; executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting

Georgina Hope "Gina" Rinehart (born 9 February 1954) is an Australian mining executive. She is executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting, the private iron ore and agriculture group founded by her father, Lang Hancock, and Forbes ranks her as Australia's richest citizen.^[1]^[2] In April 2026 the Supreme Court of Western Australia rejected claims by two of her children and by Wright Prospecting to ownership of the Hope Downs iron ore tenements. It did, however, order Hancock Prospecting and Rio Tinto to pay Wright Prospecting half of the project's past and future royalties.^[3]^[4] On 20 October 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Gina Rinehart 99th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$24.9 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Mining.^[1]^[5] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Gina Rinehart 101st, at US$25.5 billion.^[6]

Early life and family

Forbes describes Rinehart as the daughter of the iron ore explorer Lang Hancock and gives her date of birth as 9 February 1954.^[1] ABC News names her children as John Hancock, Bianca Rinehart, Hope and Ginia.^[3]

Career

According to Forbes, Rinehart rebuilt her late father's financially troubled company, Hancock Prospecting, and became its executive chairwoman in 1992. Forbes says the group's largest asset is the Roy Hill iron ore project, which began shipping to Asia in 2015. It adds that she has invested in rare earths and gas, and is Australia's second-largest cattle producer. In May 2024, it says, Hancock Prospecting and the Chilean company SQM completed a $1.1 billion takeover (figure and currency as given by Forbes) of Azure Minerals, a lithium company in Western Australia.^[1] Hancock describes itself as a privately owned company with a long history in the Pilbara and as one of the longest continuous owners of cattle stations in Australia.^[2]

Hope Downs litigation

Wright Prospecting, the company of the family of Lang Hancock's former partner Peter Wright, claimed royalties and part-ownership of the Hope Downs reserves (formerly East Angelas) under agreements from the 1980s. A company representing the late prospector Don Rhodes claimed royalties too. Rio Tinto had bought a half stake in Hope Downs in 2005. Rinehart's children John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart joined the litigation in 2016, claiming that the assets had been left in a family trust partly for them. After a three-month trial in 2023, Justice Jennifer Smith gave a 1,655-page judgment on 15 April 2026.^[4]^[3]

The judge found that Wright Prospecting was entitled to 50% of past and future royalties from Hope Downs, and that Hancock Prospecting and Rio Tinto were jointly liable for the payments. She partly upheld the Rhodes claim in equity. She dismissed all ownership claims, finding that Hancock Prospecting remained the 50% owner of Hope Downs, and said the children's claims failed "at the first hurdle".^[3]^[4] Hancock Prospecting welcomed the ruling as confirming its ownership of the tenements.^[7] Business News reported that appeals were expected.^[4] Forbes says Hancock Prospecting disclosed in October 2024 that it held $6 billion in trust accounts (as given by Forbes) during the family litigation.^[1]

Wealth

Forbes gives mining as the source of her wealth.^[1]^[5]

Wealth history

Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 20 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2007. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.^[6]^[1]

Forbes estimates by list year
Year	World's Billionaires rank	Net worth (US$ bn)
2007	891	1.0
2008	503	2.4
2009	376	1.9
2010	488	2.0
2011	100	9.0
2012	29	18.0
2013	36	17.0
2014	46	17.7
2015	94	12.3
2016	127	8.8
2017	69	15.0
2018	69	17.4
2019	75	15.2
2020	85	13.1
2021	70	23.6
2022	46	30.2
2023	52	27.0
2024	56	30.8
2025	61	29.3
2026	101	25.5

Philanthropy

Hancock Prospecting reports a $200 million commitment, made through the company and Rinehart, to house homeless Australian veterans. It also reports a A$2.5 million donation by Hancock Prospecting and Hancock Iron Ore to Telethon7 in Western Australia.^[2]

Political activity

Hancock Prospecting's 2024–25 donor return to the Australian Electoral Commission discloses A$1,099,000 in donations: A$99,000 to the Liberal Party's Western Australian division (17 July 2024), A$105,000 to its Victorian division (26 March 2025), and A$500,000 (31 October 2024) and A$395,000 (12 February 2025) to Advance Australia, which the AEC lists among significant third parties.^[8] The Guardian reported the two Advance donations, totalling A$895,000, when the data was published.^[9]

International and political links

This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."