The future of Gina Rinehart ’s most-prized mining assets, including Roy Hill and Hope Downs, are under threat after it emerged her two estranged children are attempting to claw back profits from the giant iron ore mines dating back more than two decades.

The revelations emerged in the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday, where lawyers for Mrs Rinehart’s flagship company Hancock Prospecting, as well as the mining baron herself, attempted to suppress details of the new family battle.