KEY POINTS
- Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting will pay A$8.77 million for 13.5 percent of White Cliff Minerals, more than the stake held by her estranged son and founder John Hancock.
- The conditional placement of about 515.8 million shares at A$0.017 lifted White Cliff’s stock as much as 26.5 percent, and it closed up 17.7 percent.
- The funds, roughly 105 percent of White Cliff’s June cash, will advance the Rae copper project in Nunavut, Canada, pending an October shareholder vote.
Gina Rinehart has agreed to pay A$8.77 million for 13.5 percent of White Cliff Minerals, making Australia’s richest person a bigger shareholder than her estranged son in a company he founded and has fought her over in court for years.
Her private mining group, Hancock Prospecting, will take about 515.8 million new shares at A$0.017 each under a conditional placement announced on September 15. Moreover, the news jolted the stock, which rose as much as 26.5 percent to A$0.022, its highest since June, before closing up 17.7 percent.
A family feud in the background
The deal lands amid a long family battle. Specifically, John Hancock, 50 and London-based, is a director, shareholder and founder of White Cliff, and Rinehart’s eldest child. Furthermore, he has spent years in litigation against his mother over the family trust that holds a large stake in Hancock Prospecting, seeking control on behalf of himself and his three sisters.
The contrast in wealth is stark. According to Forbes, Hancock ranks 2052nd on its 2026 billionaires list, while his mother is worth A$25.6 billion. Consequently, her stake purchase reads as pointed, even as the cash serves a clear commercial purpose.
Copper cash for a Canadian project
However, the money is headed underground in northern Canada. Specifically, White Cliff will spend it at the Rae copper project in Nunavut, drilling densely at Danvers 1 to support a maiden resource estimate, sinking step-out holes at Danvers 2 and 3, and running geophysical surveys.
The cheque exceeds the company’s own resources. According to its accounts, White Cliff held A$8.34 million in cash at the end of June, so Rinehart’s commitment equals roughly 105 percent of that. Additionally, the buy reflects Hancock Prospecting’s wider push into copper and lithium beyond the iron ore that made Rinehart a billionaire. Ultimately, the placement still needs shareholder approval at a mid-October meeting, leaving existing holders with 86.5 percent if it passes.
