Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart pictured in 2010. Photo: TONY ASHBY
A legal showdown between the billionaire descendants of Australian iron ore mining pioneers, Lang Hancock and Peter Wright, is set to get underway tomorrow in a battle over royalties and ownership of the lucrative Hope Downs mine.
The civil trial in Western Australia's Supreme Court is set to run for at least four months and will see Hancock's only child, Gina Rinehart, face several challenges to her Hancock Prospecting empire, including from her own children.
Leading the charge is Wright Prospecting - headed by Wright's daughter Angela Bennett and her late brother, Michael Wright's, daughters, Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt.
Also looking for a share of Hope Downs' riches is DFD Rhodes, the family company representing the interests of the late Pilbara pioneer, Don Rhodes.
And in what you could be forgiven for thinking was part of a plot line in the HBO series Succession, Rinehart's two oldest children are also involved, seeking claims to the Hope Downs fortune they say their grandfather left to them.
Hancock and Wright's iron ore endeavour
Lang Hancock and Peter Wright met as boys at Perth's Hale School before becoming business partners in 1938, when they joined Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd and Wright Prospecting Pty Ltd under the name Hanwright.
Hanwright began mining asbestos before turning to iron ore, which at the time was under an export embargo amid fears the mineral was in short supply in Australia.
That embargo was lifted in 1960 and a year later the WA government allowed for iron ore to be pegged.
It was a moment Mr Hancock had long been pushing for, having - in his own words - discovered swathes of iron ore while flying over WA's Hamersley Range in the early 1950s.
In the 1960s, Hanwright struck a deal with Rio Tinto, securing a 2.5 percent share in all iron ore sold from its Pilbara discoveries.
That royalty agreement has generated massive amounts of wealth for both men's families, just as it has been the subject of many legal battles since their deaths.
Hope Downs under the spotlight
The upcoming legal dispute has been more than a decade in the making and centres around two sets of iron ore mining tenements in the Hamersley Range, known collectively as Hope Downs.
They are Hope Downs 1, 2 and 3, and Hope Downs 4, 5 and 6 (formerly known as East Angelas).
The tenements were once part of the Hanwright partnership.
Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting and Rio Tinto now co-own both sets of tenements with Hope Downs 1 and Hope Downs 4 currently in production.
Much of the case will come down to the details of a partnership agreement negotiated by Mr Hancock and Mr Wright in the late 1970s, with later amendments made before Wright's death in 1985.
The ABC understands lawyers for Wright Prospecting will argue that agreement included a division of certain Hanwright assets, assigning some to Wright Prospecting and others to Hancock Prospecting.
Wright Prospecting will argue Hope Downs 1, 2 and 3 was allocated to Hancock Prospecting, allowing the company to remove it from the partnership but with royalties generated to be shared.
For that set of tenements, Wright Prospecting is seeking its half of the partnership's 2.5 percent in royalties - so, 1.25 percent of all profits made since Hope Downs 1 started production in 2007, likely to be worth several hundred million dollars.
Its claim for a stake in Hope Downs 4, 5 and 6 - which Wright Prospecting will argue is a shared Hanwright asset - could be worth billions of dollars.
The other action by DFD Rhodes is over an earlier agreement Hanwright allegedly entered into with Mr Rhodes, with the party also seeking a share of profits from Hope Downs.
Battle of the billionaires
Rinehart is Australia's richest person and while she inherited her father's company, it has been her efforts that have led to her exorbitant wealth.
Bennett is also a billionaire who has tried to remain out of the public eye, with little known about the mining heiress.
And, perhaps because of all that wealth, both women are no strangers to litigation.
Their companies have gone up against each other before, they have sided together before, and they have seen their fair share of family drama played out in the courts as well.
Earlier in the week, Rinehart made a last-minute attempt to have a confidentiality order imposed over thousands of documents relating to an ongoing dispute with her oldest son, John Hancock, and oldest daughter, Bianca Rinehart.
She was unsuccessful, with those details understood to be around allegations her children have made over her moving money out of a family trust and into her company.
While unlikely to have any of the main players appear in court themselves, the trial will be a behemoth for the legal profession.
The ABC understands opening statements alone could take the first two weeks to be delivered.
And with potentially billions of dollars at stake, any outcome is likely to be just the start of what could be years' worth of legal action as it makes its way through the various courts.
-ABC
