Gina Rinehart: Australia's Richest Person

Gina Rinehart made her billions as a mining magnate in the remote region of Western Australia. She inherited this business from her late father Lang Hancock, but you'd be quickly scolded for calling her an heiress. 

In fact, the Hancock mining empire was in very poor financial shape when Gina eventually claimed her spot at the helm. She turned the company around, expanding its choke on the mining value chain, and replenishing the coffers which had nearly been depleted - first by her spendthrift stepmother, Rose Hancock, and then from many years in and out of court battling Rose for ownership of the companies. 

This is Gina's story - from Lang's discovery of vast deposits of iron ore in Western Australia, to Gina's forgotten childhood spent learning the business, to the many vicious legal skirmishes among members of the family and anyone else who came within firing range of Gina Rinehart.  

Gina is far from a universally well-liked figure in Australian business. Her and her late father's political views are polarizing. Although she gives away untold amounts as part of her philanthropic efforts, her money is not welcome to everyone. And after making peace with her own father after many acrimonious years of warring, she is still locked in public battles with three of her four children. 

Gina Rinehart was born with an iron spoon in her mouth. You'll hear how the weight of that fortune has left a bad taste for many. 

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The biography I used as source material for this episode: Gina Rinehart: The Untold Story of the Richest Woman in the World  by Adele Ferguson, 2012

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