Rinehart’s rare praise for Lacaze

Gina Rinehart has lauded Amanda Lacaze’s voice against overbearing bureaucracy, following the Lynas Rare Earths CEO’s shock retirement announcement.

Mrs Rinehart, who is Australia’s richest person, owns around 8 per cent of Lynas as part of a sprawling rare earths portfolio.

Ms Lacaze has led the rare earths producer for 12 years through a transformational stint but will leave the company at the end of June.

In a statement, Mrs Rinehart praised Ms Lacaze for her role in making Lynas a leader in rare earths as one of just two producers outside of China.

“Rare earth projects are very challenging and difficult to develop, and Amanda’s leadership has been critical in Lynas becoming a global leader in rare earths, a sector that is critical to our defence and technology industries,” she said.

Mrs Rinehart also praised Ms Lacaze’s broader industry leadership, including her calls for sensible policy and reduced bureaucracy – an area of focus for the magnate.

“Amanda has also provided much needed mining industry leadership and spoken about how important mining is to Australia and its future, and the need for reduced bureaucracy and sensible policy,” she said.

Mrs Rinehart’s interest in rare earths has been built up in recent years amid a heightened push to secure supply chains for the materials outside China.She holds major stakes in both Lynas and MP Materials – the only two major rare earths producers outside China.

How close Mrs Rinehart has been to the strategic moves of those companies is not entirely clear.

She was rumoured to have played a role in a proposed merger of the two companies in 2024, which was ultimately leaked and never came to fruition.

At a WA Mining Club event in 2025, Ms Lacaze dispelled rumours of Mrs Rinehart’s involvement in the proposal.

“Mrs Rinehart was not a marriage broker at all,” she said.

“Hancock has absolutely diversified their holdings, and they have been in the business of building a presence in rare earths for many years ahead of that [merger talk].

“On the other hand, we’ve disclosed this, we were in discussions with MP.

“I make no bones about the fact that I think it would have been an excellent deal for us to have done.

“For whatever reason, it was leaked in a way that was unhelpful, and the deal was not done.”

The internal and external search for Ms Lacaze’s successor is underway.

The Lynas CEO told the Australian Financial Review yesterday that she would prefer a woman take on the role.