10 Year Anniversary of First Ore on Ship – Speech by Mrs Gina Rinehart AO

Greetings everyone and a warm welcome to the Pilbara – Australia’s engine room – for this historic occasion.

Ten years ago, an iron ore carrier just like the one you’re aboard today, set sail from this very berth, loaded with our inaugural shipment of ore from our mega Roy Hill mine, on its way to our partners’ steel mills in South Korea.

It was a defining moment in our company’s history, and it was an exciting and special occasion that I remember well, as Tad, my daughter Ginia, our partners POSCO, China Steel and Marubeni and I boarded the MV ANANGEL EXPLORER. Since that special day, more than 500 million tonnes of Roy iron ore have been shipped to our customers.

Iron ore that has not only helped build cities and towns, it provides revenue to enable better hospitals, defence, police, aged and disabled care as well as vastly improving our nation’s standard of living.

In those ten years since our very first shipment, the Roy Hill mine has delivered $12 billion in taxes and royalties, including $7.6 billion in company tax. On top of all this, $15.4 billion of contracts has been awarded to local West Australian businesses in the construction and ongoing operation of the Roy Hill mine. Who in turn provide more tax revenue.

Building our globally significant mega Roy project was a mammoth effort, especially for back then, our relatively small private company and tiny executive and technical teams.

As many of you would be aware the Roy tenements were taken up at my request by Hancock Prospecting at a time when our funds were very short, and HPPL was having very difficult times. Advice I received at the time included “If experienced BHP dropped these tenements, obviously thinking of little value, why do you think we could do better and find more orebodies?” and “The Roy project is far too big for us, we can’t do.” There was no positive advice that we should take on the Roy tenements. And even after we achieved the tenements, the advice to drop them continued.

Yes, Roy is a mega project which at times we thought might not happen. But we persevered through the onerous burden of thousands of government approvals and permits, endless regulatory hoops, layers of government tape, plus roadblocks for our port berth and then rail route which would have stranded and stopped our project. These roadblocks after HPPL had already spent around $100 million, a huge investment for us back then, this was massive for us!

I’m very fortunate and indeed very grateful for our hardworking teams in those early years, but want to make special mention of our very special Taddie, a gentleman I have been able to trust for more than three decades, who worked with me tirelessly day and night, including working through public holidays and many weekends to help work through the roadblocks, pursue our project through to completing a successful bankable feasibility study, which then had to be amended given a very expensive rail route change, marketing trips together overseas, presentations, through to helping bring our joint venture partners together.

Taddie stuck in there with magnificent dedication, loyalty and integrity throughout. He was an inspiration to others. Together Taddie and I worked late, gave up weekends, birthdays. We even worked on two Christmas Days, didn’t we Taddie?

I thank Tad for his magnificent commitment and for helping Hancock and me and our partners to realise our vision for the mega mining operation which Roy is.

I am also deeply appreciative of the support from our highly valued and loyal partners.

The entrepreneurial and high-risk decision by POSCO, Marubeni and China Steel who, provided much needed upfront capital to complete dredging and other pre-works, then major equity capital, allowing the project to proceed, a very entrepreneurial investment, given at the time we had not raised the debt finance.
The massive debt funding package, the largest ever project financing package for the development of a land-based part greenfield project, was achieved in the nick of time, given the equity funding had almost run out, indeed closure plans were being drawn up. Then CFO Garry Korte, supported by Jabez Huang, have quite a few unique stories in regards to that financing! But fortunately, they and others, including Tad and me, worked long hours and eventually the debt funding was secured – a fact also recognised with many prestigious awards.
With debt and equity funds secured, the hard work of construction continued.

Construction of billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure – processing plants, dedicated rail line, port berths, along with more government approvals, permits and tape.

Led by Sanjiv Manchanda who managed our contractors with tight timelines and tight budgets, managed to deliver the project construction from start to first shipment in only 26.4 months – a monumental achievement and the fastest construction start-up of any major greenfield resource project in Australia.

Plus achieved 17 million hours without lost injury time – an outstanding performance that far exceeds many similar mega projects completed in Australia. I remember talking to a CEO of a major company at the time, also familiar with carrying out mega projects in our northwest, who said. “hell, if I’d been able to deliver a project either on time or on budget I’d be thrilled, but both!” Sanjiv’s work included successfully bringing to life and to the Pilbara some of the then largest mining equipment in the world. Plus negotiating with Julian Hill, the largest commercial contract between South Korea and Australia, for a large part of the construction of our mega project.

Of course, there were many others involved in getting Roy built and operational people like Bill Lamb, Dave Kelly and Marco Agostini plus the many thousands of employees, contractors and suppliers, your hard work and dedication made Roy the success and major contributor it is. A feat you can always be proud of.

Thank you to our customers who have been loyal to us over the last 10 years. And please know we are working hard to ensure we can supply you with iron ore for the next 20 years.

It really has been a remarkable ten-year journey, and we have entered another great chapter in our journey, with the joining of Roy Hill and Atlas to become Hancock Iron Ore, under our fantastic CEO, Gerhard – to combine our strengths and position us to be more productive and better than ever before and to continue being the “best mining company in Australia”!

To our staff who have made this possible, one of the best things for me about our mining project is that I know this has helped you to pay off your mortgages, and let you choose to do many things, from home improvements, private education for your children, trips overseas, new car, pay for your wedding, honeymoon, help with baby and children expenses and more, because the mining industry on average, pays higher wages than any other industry. You may wonder why I repeatedly say in my various speeches to you, even at Christmas get togethers, that our iron ore industry is essential, and speak out about the huge contribution we and the mining industry make to Australia, well, just think of all the things that your work involvement brings to you and your family. These are realities I want to continue for each of you and your families.

Mining lets us provide training and private health insurance options for our staff, share the excitement of staff members when they win our raffles, provide help to cancer patients, and worthwhile charities and share in our chairman’s profit share, and loyalty bonuses. Yet we can’t afford to be complacent. A detailed study by the Minerals Council of Australia, has found that 80 percent of new projects, are now on the casualty list. 80 percent! This is massive. This is what bad government policies have caused, the reality of a major risk to the mining industry’s future in Australia, and with high government burdens, is risking our international competitiveness. Briefly, this is why I speak out and why I hope you also want to stand up for our industry, and its future.

And I’d like to add, our company has made another world first, pink trucks, pink locos, pink trains, pink WHIMS plants, pink PPE, celebrating women in mining, and showing our support for those suffering from breast cancer and its related cancers. And it makes me proud when I hear from staff, of the care and consideration and support our staff extend to other staff members, when they are faced with the fear and battle of breast cancer. Thank you for being staff I can be and am proud of.

Again, thank you to you all, thank you for making ours the best mining company, and let’s make the next 20 years even better!