Page 3 - Hope Downs News Today

Gina Rinehart’s eldest children have thrust the billionaire’s infamous estate row with her father back into the spotlight – including a letter he penned in 1988.

Gina Rinehart and Lang Hancock’s private letters reveal details of how their relationship broke down over money and Rose Porteous

The billionaire’s children sat in the public gallery as their barrister pored over intimate details of the alleged betrayal that sparked a bitter family feud.

The billionaire thought her father Lang Hancock’s scheme to sell iron ore to communist Romania was “foolhardy and reckless”, lawyers told a WA court.

Lawyers for Mr Hancock and his sister, Bianca Rinehart, claimed that Hancock Prospecting’s stake in Hope Downs should belong to Lang Hancock’s grandchildren.

Billionaire Gina Rinehart’s eldest children have made a shock appearance at the WA Supreme Court in a high-stakes civil trial that has pitted them against their mother and two other mining dynasties.

Senior Rio Tinto executives and Gina Rinehart discussed in 2005 the risk that their iron ore joint venture may attract a claim from another Perth dynasty.

Rio Tinto has scolded the mining dynasty fighting for a slice of its Hope Downs iron ore hub for casting doubt over what it knew while inking a deal with billionaire Gina Rinehart.

Rio Tinto’s foresight may ultimately limit its exposure to a multibillion-dollar legal battle between two of Australian richest women.

Australia’s biggest private company’s growing lithium interests have led it to criticise the nation’s competitiveness against other developed economies.