Iron ore pioneer’s heirs win stake of Rinehart mine royalties in culmination of decades-long legal battle

The heirs of iron ore pioneer Peter Wright have claimed victory their decades-long legal battle against the company owned by Gina Rinehart, with a Supreme Court judge ruling that the spoils from lucrative Hancock Prospecting projects in Western Australia’s Pilbara region must be shared with their family company.

Justice Jennifer Smith on Wednesday morning ruled that Wright Prospecting was entitled to half of past and future royalties from the Hope Downs mines, estimated to be worth more than $1 billion, with more to flow.

However, in her judgment, Smith deemed the decision as a “half-win for Wright Prospecting and a half-win for Hancock Prospecting”, with Wright Prospecting’s claim for part ownership of a portion of the mining project dismissed.

The Supreme Court case, one of the longest and most expensive in Australian history, has pitted the nation’s richest person against the descendants of her father Lang Hancock’s business partner, as well as members of her own family.

Wright’s heirs, which include billionaire Angela Bennett and her nieces Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt, argued Wright Prospecting was entitled to a 1.25 per cent royalty from the Hope Downs iron ore mines in WA’s Pilbara region.

Hancock Prospecting runs the lucrative mines with Rio Tinto.

The tenements were first pegged by Hancock and Wright in the 1940s, and in 1982, the iron ore pioneers nutted out an agreement to divide the assets in order to avoid their descendants from arguing over ownership in the future.

Despite their efforts, the assets have sparked more than a decade of courtroom warfare by the descendants, making the matter one of the most protracted and expensive civil litigation cases in Australian history.

The tenements at the centre of the dispute were seized by the state government but were reinstated to Hancock Prospecting after Wright died.

Wright’s descendants argue the tenements are still part of the partnership agreement hashed out by Wright and Hancock in the 1980s and that they are entitled to a share of equity and royalties.

Rinehart’s children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, also claimed they should have inherited the site under a family trust set up by their grandfather, Lang, before his death.

While another family is also disputing they are entitled to some of the money flowing from the mines, with the estate of engineer Don Rhodes also a party in the matter from an agreement Rhodes struck with Hancock and Wright in the 1960s.

More to come.