Decision to be announced in mining royalty battle between two of Australia’s richest women

The WA Supreme Court is set to decide which of Australia’s rival mining dynasties is entitled to billions of dollars in royalties and assets.

The ruling will close a chapter in a long-running legal feud between two companies owned by Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart and fellow billionaire Angela Bennett.

Ms Bennett’s family company Wright Prospecting (WPPL) is suing Ms Rinehart’s company Hancock Prospecting (HPPL).

The companies, founded by Western Australian iron ore pioneers Peter Wright and Lang Hancock, are locked in a dispute over a decades-old pact between the two men – known as the Hanwright partnership – which set out how royalties and assets would be divided between their families.

Hope Downs is currently jointly owned by Rio Tinto and HPPL, each company owning a 50 per cent stake.

The project produces about 50 million tonnes of iron ore each year, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments for those with a hand in its profits.

Hancock Prospecting (HPPL) receives a 2.5 per cent royalty from the iron ore project, and WPPL believes it is entitled to half of this royalty collected by HPPL.

The Wright family business could be entitled to hundreds of millions of dollars from a 1.25 per cent royalty backdated to 2007, when HPPL and Rio Tinto began mining at the site, if successful in their legal action.

The company also wants to split assets with HPPL at the East Angelas deposits covered by three Hope Downs tenements that have been operating since 2013, and worth more than $1bn.

If successful it would mean HPPL and WPPL would each have a 25 per cent stake in the operation, while Rio Tinto would retain 50 per cent.

But HPPL argues a deal to secure the East Angelas tenements was struck after the two men lost the licence and it was never included in the partnership deal.

HPPL contends it exclusively owns the iron ore assets it developed with Rio Tinto, having shouldered all the financial investment and operational responsibilities outside of the partnership.

The outcome of the dispute could also have financial implications for other parties drawn into the proceedings.

Ms Rinehart’s children John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart are co-defendants in the case with a separate legal battle involving their mother over a family trust left to them by their grandfather.

The children claim their mother transferred shares leaving them with a smaller stake in Hancock Prospecting and are pursing separate action.

Ms Rinehart has previously said this was to correct a previous issue by her father Lang Hancock.

If a court rules against HPPL it will affect entitlements that flow onto the beneficiaries of the trust.

DFD Rhodes is the family company of Don Rhodes, a long term business associate of Lang Hancock.

The company is seeking a 1.25 per cent stake in royalties from Hope Downs production.

There could also be implications for Rio Tinto with the outcome of the court case affecting who benefits from the profits that flow from Hope Downs mines.

A trial to settle the dispute began in 2023 with Justice Jennifer Smith to hand down her decision almost three years on.

Justice Smith will decide which parties are entitled to any royalties or assets, but an exact figure of how much is owed will be decided at a separate trial.