Latest iron ore court battle set to begin

Peter Wright’s descendants are fighting for a slice of iron ore royalties and assets now within Gina Rinehart’s empire.

Gina Rinehart.

One of Australia’s biggest and most expensive legal fights – a brawl over billions of dollars of iron ore assets – will finally begin in one week after almost a decade of legal wrangling.

The showdown in Western Australia’s Supreme Court between the state’s Hancock and Wright iron ore dynasties will finally begin on July 24. At stake will be highly valuable interests in a number of Pilbara iron ore mines and deposits at the heart of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting iron ore empire.

The case is the latest in a string of legal actions stemming from the attempts by former business partners Lang Hancock and Peter Wright to carve up their lucrative WA iron ore interests in the 1980s.

The Hancock and Wright heirs have fought multiple battles both against each other and among themselves as they jostle for their shares of iron ore assets and royalties worth billions of dollars.

Angela Bennett. Picture: Supplied

The court will decide whether the Wright descendants – including rich listers Angela Bennett, Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt – should also be entitled to some of Hancock Prospecting’s interests in the Hope Downs and East Angelas mining tenements.

Wright’s lawyers will argue that the family is entitled to a royalty from Hope Downs, which Hancock Prospecting describes as one of Australia’s largest and most successful iron ore projects.

Wright brought its initial claim against Hancock back in 2013 but the matter is only now going to trial.

Wright argues that under the original carve-up of assets by Lang Hancock and Peter Wright, each family was supposed to be entitled to royalties from any iron ore mines developed on the tenements that wound up with the other family. However, Wright Prospecting has never received any royalties from Hope Downs.

Wright is also claiming it is entitled to an interest in the East Angelas assets, which were held by the business partners in the 1970s but which the government required them to give up ownership of in the 1980s. The tenements were subsequently reacquired by Hancock, and Wright will argue that it should still be entitled to its original share.

The Hope Downs royalties sought by Wright are likely to be worth several hundred million dollars, while a stake in the East Angelas project would be worth billions.

The legal battle has also dragged in Mrs Rinehart’s children, John Hancock and Bianca, Hope and Ginia Rinehart. Mr Hancock and Bianca Rinehart are both in a separate court battle with their mother over the ownership structure of Hancock, and have been brought into the Hope Downs and East Angelas battle by Wright so they would be bound by the outcome of the dispute. Rio Tinto, which is Hancock Prospecting’s joint venture partner in the project, will also be represented in court as it keeps an eye on the proceedings.

The trial is expected to run for about three months.