Article by Brad Thompson, courtesy of The Mercury
25.06.2025
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 marathon approval process that involved a negotiations with three separate traditional owner groups.
Rio kicked off the approcess for the Hope Downs 2 project back 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 mining giant has had to tread much more carefully and faced more onerous approval processes and traditional owner negotiations since then, leading to doubts about its capacity to deliver on its target of a new mine a year until 2030 in the Pilbara where it faces problems with declining grades.
The Hope Downs 2 project shores up Rio’s relationship with Mrs Rinehart – Australia’s richest person and the Hancock executive chairman.
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.
