Speech by Mrs Gina Rinehart AO Hope Downs 2 Visit
Speech by Mrs Gina Rinehart AO
Hope Downs 2 Visit
Saturday 3 October 2026
Pilbara, WA
Good afternoon everyone,
Today we unveil this plaque which commemorates the next chapter of Greater Hope Downs, Hope 2.
It is named in honour of my mother, Hope Margaret Hancock (nee Nicholas).
To put it mildly, behind every great man, is a great woman, my mother unarguably makes that saying true.
This plaque commemorates not only the next important chapter but the history which made this possible.
Hope Downs did not have an easy start. After my father’s discovery, decades ago, around the late 1960’s, the partnerships temporary reserves initially covering, were exactly that, very temporary. Years later, after being in a government cocoon for a decade or so, so no development could occur, my dad was successful in getting during the course of several years’ temporary reserves over Hope Downs 1 to 6 inclusive.
When I became Chairman in 1992, given our tenement’s history, I wasn’t comfortable spending our very limited money while tenements only held on temporary title, and 9 months after my father’s passing, was relieved and our staff were very excited to achieve a state agreement covering Hope Downs.
Back then, we were a very different company. In fact, when I first arrived as Chair, in 1992, I learnt the practice was to write checks and leave them in drawers, when people phoned up, we could say, your check has been written. We couldn’t send of course, until we had the money to support. Doubt this would be a unique practise today, with the governments bad economic management, escalating government charges, and consequent record business failures.
You may wonder, well how did we find the money to explore and study Hope Downs, and do the mountain of government paperwork. We borrowed it, and, got right up to starting a Bankable Feasibility Study. But we didn’t have the money to finish an expensive BFS, so we had to bring in partners.
Under the State Agreement, we faced deadlines requiring a financeable development proposal to be submitted. Had we failed to meet those requirements, we would be in default, and if not quickly rectified, the title and the years of investment in Hope Downs, would have been lost. To the huge delight of a competitor wanting our tenements, who was incredibly active to that end.
Nor was this helped by the fact that Anglo had taken over our then South African partners, and to do so had to commit to the government of the Republic of South Africa, that it would prioritise investment and development of Kumba’s resources in South Africa, leaving our Australian project with a mighty problem. We won a consequent arbitration, but then Anglo appealed, which delay meant we would not be able to make the State Agreement deadline.
Clearly the Hope Downs story didn’t stop there, we had to buy Anglo out, and despite some troublesome problems, four lots of parties who didn’t contribute sending us to the courts for years, let’s call that, legal issues, bit of an understatement, tax and financing challenges, government, here we are today.
But firstly, I would like to recognise our partners in Hope, partners only agreed to the very day that the financeable development proposal had to be presented to the government. The development proposal we had drawn, had to be substantially rewritten, as Rio understandably wanted to use its own infrastructure and build a short railway line from Hope to connect, which required a major rewrite and an enormous amount of work in a few hours.
This revised financeable development proposal was only ready after hours, and when we delivered it to the applicable Minister, it was still hot from the copy machine! The very next day, Rio became our partner, and we quickly saw that our lives had changed, when then CEO Sam, understandably wanted to see what Rio had just bought into.
So up we went in a chartered jet, and soon we were on top of Hope North. Then Tad and I saw in the distance trucks carrying flags on tall sticks.
Somehow, they clambered up our very rough road, and out poured, a dining table, chairs, even flowers and a tablecloth. Then came cutlery and crockery and serviettes, and real glasses and cups. And, a man pouring us water, offering us cold soft drinks, even wine, a breadbasket plus butter and butter knife, and then a multi course delicious lunch. To say that was a happy lunch was an understatement, even the winter weather was beautiful. That historic joint venture lunch remains more than 21 years later, as my favourite lunch, since my childhood meals in the Pilbara.
My speech went on longer, but didn’t want you out in the heat. The rest of this speech will be made available to all Hope Downs staff.
Our Pilbara meals pre-Rio, consisted of a tuckerbox with sandwiches, after we moved to Wittenoom when I was a teenager, some meatballs or sausage rolls or pasties too. We sat on rocks in the shade. The canvas water bags kept our water quite cool. If the surroundings weren’t too dry at that time of year, we gathered rocks, sticks and dry leaves for boiling the Billy, and out would come our tin mugs and Billy can, from the Billy box.
Yes, life with Rio changed us, and our company!
Rio helped us to some degree with our share of the financing for Hope 1 North, but most of it we had to raise from the banks.
Regrettably some of the terms in the agreement that Rio wanted, were not agreeable to the banks. We missed a government deadline for the financing, Rio were understandably keen to take over our interest, I pleaded with the Minister at the time, for more time. Over Christmas and into early January our very small team worked with banks from Scotland to Paris to Australia, and a little late, we got our essential financing. And here we are as partners, celebrating 2 decades of our joint venture.
Witnessing the construction of Hope 2, our 5th major mine together, which, following the granting of approvals, an increasingly expensive, time and resource wasting, stressful endeavour, which helps to send increasing numbers of companies offshore to invest, will strategically help to sustain our Hope Downs 1 operation. Now, we just need to develop Hope 5 don’t we, to strategically sustain Hope 4 too.
The relationship between the Hancock and Wright Partnership and Rio did not begin in 2005.
The relationship between our companies stretches back to the early days of the Pilbara iron ore industry in the 1960s. Beginning with a chap called Sir Val Duncan, in London, Chairman of Rio Tinto, then also a far far smaller company. And my dad.
My father’s contribution to the Pilbara iron ore industry is significantly undervalued. He was the prospector who risked his life, initially in the austere and other tiny planes you and I would not want to travel this mountainous region in. The heat passing over the mountains, would suddenly shoot us upwards, or drop us down from the air. If you don’t mind feeling nauseous, you try it, preferably with a very good pilot, in a very small plane in the heat.
When dad landed in the spinifex, with or without a gravel road under him, he at times clipped the branches of trees, meaning his austere canvas wings got ripped. Dad would have to sit or stand there in the heat, sewing the canvas back together, before he could take off.
As years of exploring in better planes continued, at times dad got so excited with his discoveries, he was late back to his station homestead, and yes, we were at the ends of that unsealed runway to greet him.
I still recall, actually I don’t think I will ever forget, my mother and I and at times our station manager too, being at the ends of our station runway with vehicle lights on, so dad could land after sundown. Right near our Hamersley Station homestead, adjacent beautiful Mt Sylvia. Given the importance of having vehicles with lights on, and at times the manager needed to be at other parts of this huge station, or my dear mother was in Perth, I was permitted to drive well before I’d reached the age of ten.
But those discovery flights gave Rio more than 10 major ore bodies, Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Channar, Brockman, ultimately Marandoo, ultimately West Angela’s, its share of Hope Downs and Rhodes Ridge and more, and Hancock and Wright and for the early projects, Perron’s company too, a share of royalty. Rio would simply not be one of the world’s largest mining companies, without the discoveries of the “flying prospector”, Lang Hancock.
Of course, dad had to do more than discover orebodies and eventually interest companies in them, he also had to battle the federal government for nearly 8 years, to lift their embargo on exporting iron ore. The government “crystal ball”, led it to believe, Australia would be importing iron ore by 1965.
Let’s not ever think, state planning is a meritorious idea! And although we’ve heard much regarding how important the state government was in the early days of the Pilbara iron ore industry, back in the first half of the 60’s, I sure know different, and just one example, is the state governments delay in lifting their ban on title so that explorers could explore and companies invest and ultimately develop iron ore projects.
So today is about much more than unveiling a plaque.
It is about recognising decades of risk, work and persistence, that helped to make the Hope Downs projects possible
It is about celebrating the partnership with Rio that helped turn our Hope Downs project into reality, and contribute so much to our state and country.
And it is about recognising the thousands of people who have contributed to Hope Downs over many years.
I hope you are proud of Hope Downs, and your contribution. I believe that would make my mother happy with this great project that carries her name. My father would have been enormously proud to see what has grown from the pioneering work he began in the Pilbara way back in the 1950s, after his initial discovery in late November 1952, and the huge contribution the iron ore industry has made to his beloved Pilbara, our state, and Australia.
The towns that weren’t there, before Tom Price and Dampier. The hospitals and shopping centres and frequent supplies, the post offices and roads and airports, that weren’t there before Tom Price and Dampier. My dad and his ancestors and the pastoralists and small businessmen of the Pilbara, knew much tougher lives, before the iron ore industry was permitted to provide benefits and opportunities in the Pilbara. And of course, so much more since these early iron ore towns.
Since the government embargoes were lifted in the 1960s, West Australia has sold some 17 billion tonnes of iron ore, earning more than $2 trillion in export earnings and counting! And an estimated $250 billion in company tax and $50 billion in personal income tax from its workforce. Additionally, mining, iron ore especially, has delivered West Australia approx. $160 billion in royalties, and counting! Without our WA mining industry, WA would still be a mendicant or hand out reliant state, and Australia would be different; our standards of living would not be the same.
To our partners at Rio Tinto, to our loyal employees at Hancock, and to Hope Downs employees, contractors, suppliers and especially to the people working here on site day after day, in for months each year, hot and challenging conditions, thank you for helping make possible the greater Hope Downs.
Thank you, and please continue to work safely and proudly.
