Courtesy of Gold Coast Bulletin
26.06.2025
Rio Tinto is slowly finding a way through an approvals minefield it created in Western Australia and will invest $2.47bn alongside Gina Rinehart in developing new iron ore operations.
Rio and Mrs Rinehart’s private company, Hancock Prospecting, pulled the trigger on the new mine after a long approval process.
Rio kicked off the process for the Hope Downs 2 project in 2021, a year after it earned international condemnation for blowing up 46,000-year- old rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara.
The Hope Downs 2 project shores up Rio’s relationship with Mrs Rinehart.
Hancock and Rio will split the cost of developing the new mine, which has just passed the last of all necessary WA and federal government approvals.
