Page 7 - Hope Downs News Today

A court has heard claims that mining icon Lang Hancock breached his fiduciary duties under pressure from his wife, Rose Porteous.

Reclusive mining heiress Angela Bennett could be forced to explain her absence in the multibillion-dollar mining royalties battle being waged by her pioneer father’s company.

Details of the feud between pioneer Lang Hancock and his daughter Gina Rinehart before his death have been laid bare in a multibillion-dollar Supreme Court civil case.

A Perth court has been told that a decades-old memo is proof that the family suing Hancock Prospecting knew they had no claim on billions of dollars in mining profits.

The latest WA courts news, articles and analysis from the The Age

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has attempted to deliver a fatal blow in the battle to guard its iron ore riches, unearthing a 34-year-old memo showing a rival mining dynasty knew it had no right to its royalties.

Gina Rinehart’s lawyers have told a civil trial a newly found memo shows disputed assets belonged solely to Hancock Prospecting.

The magnate sought a “total cleanup package division of Hancock and Wright so as not to leave grey areas for our respective heirs to argue about”.

Hancock Prospecting’s lawyer rubbished his opponents’ characterisation of Lang Hancock’s letter to his daughter, insisting it was of “peripheral relevance”.

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has fought to shield its iron ore empire from the multimillion-dollar royalty claim lobbed by her father’s associate amid a high-stakes civil case in the Supreme Court.