Gina Rinehart Mine Sites: What She Owns, and Wodgina

Gina Rinehart’s main mine sites are iron ore operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, run through her private company Hancock Prospecting: Roy Hill (70% owned), the Hope Downs joint venture with Rio Tinto (50%) and the former Atlas Iron mines now folded into Hancock Iron Ore. Wodgina, the lithium mine often linked to her name, is not hers. It is a 50/50 joint venture between Mineral Resources (MinRes), which operates it, and Albemarle (MinRes, Wodgina). None of Australia’s producing uranium mines is a Hancock asset (WNA). This guide lists what Hancock owns, what it holds as minority stakes, and where Wodgina and Australian uranium really sit, with the owner, the source and the date for each fact.

Which mines does Gina Rinehart own

Hancock Prospecting is privately owned, so it does not publish a single asset register the way a listed company does. The table below pulls together the operating and development assets that are reported with a clear ownership share. Ownership is given as reported by the sources named in the last column. A “joint venture” means two or more companies share the mine and its output, usually in proportion to their stake.

Iron ore is the business that pays for everything else. Roy Hill opened with its first shipment in 2015. In June 2026 Hancock Iron Ore said it would cut mining activity to extend the mine’s life by ten years while holding output above 63 Mt a year, and that McPhee Creek ore would also be processed at the Roy Hill plant (Argus, 17 June 2026). A tonne of iron ore is a heavy, low-value product, so scale and rail and port access decide the margin. The Western Australian government’s August 2026 iron ore profile counts Roy Hill at 3,799 full-time-equivalent workers on site in 2025, one of the larger direct workforces in the Pilbara (WA iron ore profile, August 2026).

How Hope Downs works

Hope Downs is not a single pit. It is a group of open-pit mines in the Pilbara that Rio Tinto operates and that Hancock shares equally (AAP). Because Hancock takes half of the joint venture’s output, Hope Downs tonnes count toward Hancock’s iron ore even though Rio Tinto runs the site. The two new pits will send ore to the existing Hope Downs 1 plant for processing, which keeps the build cost below a stand-alone mine (Argus, 24 June 2025).

Hancock’s stakes in rare earths and other miners

Beyond its own mines, Hancock buys minority stakes in listed companies. These are shareholdings, not mines Hancock operates. Percentages change as companies issue shares, so the figure below carries its date and comes from the company’s own filing.

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Hancock’s reported ownership share

Per cent, selected assets and one shareholding, dates in the text

• Arafura Rare Earths (ASX: ARU), Nolans project, Northern Territory. Hancock is Arafura’s largest shareholder. In its 22 May 2026 placement announcement, Arafura said Hancock committed about A$85 million, which would lift Hancock to about 17.5% of the company once the placement completes (Arafura ASX announcement, 22 May 2026). The project was approved for construction in May 2026 after the federal government agreed to buy up to 500 tonnes of product a year (ABC News, 21 May 2026). Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used in magnets, and Nolans would be an Australian source outside China.

The chart compares ownership shares on the dates given above. They are not like-for-like: Roy Hill, Mount Bevan and Hope Downs are mine ownership, while Arafura is a shareholding (a pro forma figure that applies once the May 2026 placement completes).

Is Wodgina a Gina Rinehart mine

No. Wodgina sits in the Pilbara about 1,525 km north of Perth on land of the Kariyarra People. It is an unincorporated joint venture between MinRes (50%) and Albemarle Corporation (50%), and MinRes manages everything from exploration to processing (MinRes, Wodgina). Albemarle’s own page confirms its 50% interest and the same joint venture partner (Albemarle, mining interests). Neither company lists Hancock as an owner.

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Lithium mine output by country

Tonnes of contained lithium, 2025 estimate, selected countries

What Wodgina produces

Wodgina is an open-pit hard-rock lithium mine. Its three processing trains have a combined nameplate capacity of about 750,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate a year at 5.5% lithium oxide (Li2O). That is capacity, not output, and the two should not be mixed up. MinRes reports lithium on an attributable basis, meaning its own share, and its fourth-quarter FY26 report (quarter to 30 June 2026) gives these figures:

• Wodgina FY26 sales of a record 317,000 dmt of 6%-grade concentrate (SC6), against upgraded guidance of 270,000 to 290,000 dmt.
• FY26 cost of US$738 per dmt SC6 on an FOB basis (loaded on the ship at the port), at the lower end of guidance.
• Fourth-quarter production of 94,000 dmt, up 21% on the previous quarter, with plant recovery at 68% as Stage 2 ore ran out and the plant moved fully to Stage 3 feed.
• An average realised price of US$2,450 per dmt SC6 (cost, insurance and freight, CIF) in the quarter, up 15% on the quarter before, with pre-stripping of Stage 4 to start in the first quarter of FY27.

Those figures come from MinRes’s Q4 FY26 quarterly activity report. Spodumene concentrate prices are quoted in US dollars per tonne and move with the lithium market, so treat the realised price as a snapshot of one quarter, not a forecast.

Wodgina next to Hancock’s lithium holding

The two mines are easy to confuse, so here they are side by side. Both are hard-rock spodumene operations in Western Australia, but they have different owners. Kathleen Valley belongs to the listed company Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR).

Liontown reported FY26 spodumene concentrate output of 392,000 dmt from Kathleen Valley, inside its 365,000 to 450,000 dmt guidance (Kalkine Media), and in September 2026 approved a A$389 million expansion (Motley Fool Australia, 30 September 2026). Wodgina has a fly-in fly-out camp for up to 900 people, gas-fired power generation and bore fields on site, and ore is trucked to Port Hedland for export (MinRes, Wodgina). Its ore is weathered in the top 20 to 50 metres and turns hard below that, and MinRes says underground mining at depth is being assessed.

Where Australia sits in lithium

The US Geological Survey puts Australian lithium mine output at 92,000 tonnes of contained lithium in 2025 (estimate), up from 82,700 tonnes in 2024, out of a world total of about 290,000 tonnes, or roughly 32% (USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). Wodgina is one of several Australian hard-rock mines. For a state-by-state view of the deposits, see our guide to lithium in Australia.

Does Gina Rinehart own uranium mines

Not among the operating mines. The World Nuclear Association (updated February 2025) counts three operating uranium mines in Australia, and none of the owners it names is Hancock. The World Nuclear Association (WNA) lists Olympic Dam in South Australia as a copper mine with uranium as a by-product, Four Mile as an in situ recovery mine owned by Quasar Resources, an affiliate of General Atomics, and processed at the Beverley plant of Heathgate Resources, and Honeymoon as an in situ leach project owned by Boss Energy, which bought it in 2015 (WNA, Australia’s uranium). In situ recovery (also called in situ leach) pumps a mild solution through the ore underground and pulls the dissolved uranium to the surface, so there is no open pit. Ranger in the Northern Territory stopped production in January 2021 and is in rehabilitation.

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Uranium output at Australian mines

Tonnes of U3O8 per year, three largest mines, 2015 to 2022

How much uranium Australia produces

The WNA table, which runs to 2022, shows how the mix changed. Olympic Dam made 3,317 tonnes of triuranium octoxide (U3O8, the usual sales form of uranium) in 2022, Four Mile made 1,503 tonnes, Ranger made none and Honeymoon had not yet restarted. Australia holds about 28% of the world’s uranium resources in the under-US$130 per kilogram of uranium cost class, or 1.7 million tonnes of uranium, on 2019 data, with most of it in five deposits: Olympic Dam, Ranger, Jabiluka, Kintyre and Yeelirrie (WNA). Boss Energy’s 2020 feasibility study set a base case of about 907 tonnes of U3O8 a year over a 12-year life for Honeymoon (WNA).

Check any claim that a named billionaire “owns uranium sites” against the mine owner’s filings, not against a summary page. Our short explainer on uranium in Zimbabwe shows the same pattern in another country: a known deposit is not the same thing as a working mine.

▶ Explains how a known uranium deposit differs from a working mine, using Zimbabwe as the example. · 4:27

How much iron ore does Australia produce

Australia is the world’s largest iron ore producer by a wide margin. The USGS estimates Australian usable ore output at 980 million tonnes in 2025, against about 2.6 billion tonnes worldwide, or roughly 38% (USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). Almost all of it comes from the Pilbara, where Hancock, Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue operate. Hancock’s share is Roy Hill’s roughly 62 to 63 Mt a year (70% Hancock) plus half of Hope Downs plus the Atlas tonnes now inside Hancock Iron Ore. Hope Downs and Atlas volumes are not broken out in the sources cited on this page, so it does not add them into a total. Investing News Network puts combined Roy Hill and Atlas exports at about 74 Mt a year (Sept 2026).

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Iron ore mine output, selected countries

Million tonnes of usable ore, 2025 estimate

Replacement mines are the theme of the next few years. The WA iron ore profile lists Hope Downs 2 (31 Mt a year, first ore 2027) among the projects intended to replace older Pilbara capacity (WA iron ore profile, August 2026).

▶ Follows the money from the ground up: exports, jobs, revenue and energy-transition minerals. · 5:03

How to work out an owner’s share of a mine’s output

When a mine is a joint venture, the headline tonnage belongs to the whole project, not to one owner. To compare, multiply the mine’s output by the owner’s stake. Roy Hill’s 61.6 Mt at 70% is about 43 Mt attributable to Hancock; Wodgina’s 750,000 tonne capacity at 50% is 375,000 tonnes per owner. Some companies report “attributable” figures (their share) and some report “100% basis” figures, so always check which one a report uses. MinRes, for example, states both bases in the same quarterly report. The calculator below does the sum. Enter your own tonnes, stake and price.

How to research any Australian mine site yourself

1. Find the operator and owners. Open the operator’s mine page and the partner’s annual report. Wodgina is a good test: MinRes and Albemarle both state the 50/50 split.
2. Check the share register for listed owners. ASX announcements (the Australian Securities Exchange’s company filings) show substantial holders above 5%, with dates. Hancock’s move in Arafura is visible this way.
3. Separate capacity from output. Nameplate capacity is what the plant is built to do. Output or shipments are what was made. Quarterly activity reports give both.
4. Note the basis and the unit. Look for “attributable” or “100%”, dry or wet tonnes, and the grade of concentrate (SC6 means 6% lithium oxide).
5. Check the tenement. The state mines department records mining leases and exploration licences, with holder, status and dates. A named holder of a lease is a legal fact; a news summary is not.
6. Look at the ground. Recent satellite imagery shows pit size, waste dumps and tailings. This is where an independent view is useful for consultants, because company slides rarely show the footprint.

Satellite views of large Pilbara mine sites

Large open-pit sites change every few weeks as pits are pushed back and waste dumps grow, and a medium-resolution satellite such as Sentinel-2 can show the footprint at about 10 m per pixel. Farmonaut uses satellite data to screen licence areas for mineral targets, and the image at the top of this page is a Sentinel-2 composite of the Pilbara. Our guide to decarbonizing mining covers the reporting side, and the Farmonaut home page lists the platform. Satellite results are exploration targets, not a resource estimate.

▶ What remote sensing for mining means, in three minutes. · 2:01

Mining terms used on this page

• Joint venture (JV). Two or more companies share a mine and its output in proportion to their stakes. Wodgina and Hope Downs are both JVs.
• Attributable output. The part of a mine’s production that belongs to the reporting company, based on its stake. “100% basis” means the whole mine.
• Nameplate capacity. What a plant is designed to process in a year. Actual output can be lower or higher.
• Spodumene concentrate (SC6). A crushed and floated product from lithium ore, sold at about 6% lithium oxide. “dmt” means dry metric tonnes.
• Mtpa. Million tonnes per annum, the usual way to state iron ore capacity.
• U3O8. Triuranium octoxide, the form in which uranium concentrate is sold, usually in tonnes or pounds.
• Tenement. Western Australian term for a mining or exploration title held by a person or company.

Land, communities and rehabilitation at these sites

Large mines sit on Traditional Owner land, and the owners’ own pages say so: MinRes places Wodgina on the land of the Kariyarra People (MinRes, Wodgina). Rehabilitation is a long job. The WNA records that Ranger, the Northern Territory uranium mine that ended production in January 2021, is owned by Energy Resources of Australia, which became 86.33% owned by Rio Tinto in February 2020 so that it would have funds for rehabilitation (WNA). For any site you assess, read the operator’s rehabilitation plan and its closure cost estimate, because those numbers decide how much cash a mine must hold back.

Frequently asked questions

What mines does Gina Rinehart own?

Her family company Hancock Prospecting owns 70% of the Roy Hill iron ore mine, half of the Hope Downs joint venture with Rio Tinto, the ex-Atlas mines now in Hancock Iron Ore, the McPhee Creek mine and a 63.43% stake in the Mount Bevan magnetite rights (sources in the table above).

Does Gina Rinehart own the Wodgina mine?

No. MinRes and Albemarle each own 50% of the Wodgina joint venture, and MinRes operates it (MinRes and Albemarle company pages).

How much iron ore does Roy Hill produce?

Roy Hill shipped 61.6 million tonnes in the year to 30 June 2025, and Hancock said in June 2026 that it would keep output above 63 million tonnes a year while extending the mine’s life by ten years (Argus).

Who owns the rest of Roy Hill?

Marubeni holds 15%, POSCO 12.5% and China Steel Corporation 2.5%, with Hancock holding the other 70% (Roy Hill ownership page).

What is Hancock Iron Ore?

It is the Hancock subsidiary formed on 1 July 2025 when Atlas Iron and Roy Hill merged, and it operates Roy Hill (Argus).

Does Gina Rinehart have any lithium interests?

Not an operating mine in the sources reviewed here. Wodgina is MinRes and Albemarle’s, and the lithium mine this page compares it with, Kathleen Valley, belongs to Liontown Resources. Check Hancock’s own disclosures for shareholdings.

What is Gina Rinehart’s stake in Arafura Rare Earths?

About 17.5% once the May 2026 placement completes, according to Arafura’s ASX announcement of 22 May 2026.

Does Gina Rinehart own a uranium mine?

None of Australia’s producing uranium sites (Olympic Dam, Four Mile and Honeymoon) is a Hancock asset, per the WNA country page, and Ranger stopped producing in January 2021.

How much lithium does Wodgina produce?

The plant is built for about 750,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate a year. MinRes reported attributable FY26 sales of 317,000 dmt SC6 for Wodgina, and quarterly production of 94,000 dmt in the June 2026 quarter.

Which Australian state does most iron ore mining?

Western Australia, mainly the Pilbara. The WA government’s iron ore profile lists the major mines and their workforces. USGS puts national output at about 980 million tonnes in 2025 (estimate).

Is Hope Downs the same as Roy Hill?

No. Hope Downs is a Rio Tinto and Hancock joint venture in the Pilbara, while Roy Hill is a separate mine owned 70% by Hancock.