News

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has secured a potential long-term development partner for the company’s West Australian lithium assets after teaming up with global lithium giant SQM in a $1.7bn joint takeover of Azure Minerals. Hancock and SQM will jointly bid for Azure through a newly registered company, SH Mining – half-owned by Chile’s SQM and half by Hancock subsidiary Hanrine Future Metals, with Mrs Rinehart installing trusted lieutenants Jay Newby and Tad Watroba on its board to oversee the joint ­venture.

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting will join with Chile’s SQM to take joint control of would-be West Australian lithium play Azure Minerals, in a recut takeover deal. The joint takeover will lift the bid price to $3.70 a share in cash if shareholders vote in favour of the deal at a scheme meeting, with a $3.65 a share fallback price if the scheme is blocked and falls back to an on-market takeover.

Azure owns a majority stake in the Andover lithium project in Australia’s mineral-rich Pilbara mining region, where Rinehart’s Hancock runs a large iron-ore mining business.
Azure reported that Hancock had taken a large stake in company a day after SQM’s October bid. Earlier that month, Hancock scuttled a planned takeover of Liontown Resources by Albemarle, acquiring enough stock to frustrate the American lithium giant’s intention of buying the Australian company. In a statement Tuesday, Hancock said it is reviewing a number of early-stage lithium projects.

Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart is set to land her first big play in lithium, with Azure Minerals on the cusp of being snapped up for around $1.7 billion. The intricate deal has gone ahead after billionaire prospector Mark Creasy gave his blessing for Chilean giant SQM to shake hands with Mrs Rinehart. SQM and Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting have joined together to lob an all-cash $3.70- a-share scheme of arrangement proposal, which if not successful will trigger an off-market takeover priced at $3.65 each.

Gina Rinehart has landed her first big partnership in lithium by joining forces with Chilean giant Sociedad Quimica y Minera to launch a knockout $1.7 billion bid for explorer Azure Minerals. Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and SQM have locked up more than 60 per cent of the stock after their improved 50-50 bid, pitched at $3.70 a share up from $3.52, won the support of at least two other major shareholders: billionaire prospector Mark Creasy and Delphi Group. Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources can opt to sell into the Rinehart-SQM takeover, or resist giving up what is currently a 13.5 per cent stake. Mr Ellison said in November that he wanted a big piece of Azure’s Andover project; MinRes declined to reveal its intentions on Tuesday. The Hancock-SQM scheme of arrangement is contingent on no other player acquiring or increasing its holding in Azure to more than 15 per cent.