Gina Rinehart

High iron ore prices and rising exports to China have boosted the fortune of Gina Rinehart up $7 billion to $9 billion making her Australia's richest person and Asia's second richest woman. But it was domestic issues that put her back in the headlines. A new "super-tax" proposed by the Australian Government on iron ore and coal triggered a sharp reaction by the normally reclusive Rinehart who, in one cameo performance, mounted a flatbed truck with fellow iron ore billionaire, Andrew Forrest, to chant anti-tax slogans. That performance was followed by a surprise purchase of a 10% stake in a television network, perhaps to further her crusade against the mining tax. Recipient of a family-owned and evergreen royalty from iron ore sold by the Hamersley unit of Anglo-Australian mining giant, Rio Tinto, Rinehart is expanding her fortune via direct interests in mining, initially iron ore, but with coal likely to come if a trial mine performs as expected. 9 February 1954