An important piece of Gina Rinehart’s strategic jigsaw puzzle was publicly placed this week when the iron ore billionaire grabbed a 5.8 per cent stake in Lynas Rare Earths. She seems to have done well, cannily predicting or coat-tailing governments’ bets on supporting critical minerals.

In announcing new additional critical minerals projects on Wednesday, the federal government declared that “the road to net zero runs through Australia’s resources sector” and Rinehart will be hoping for a decent spoonful from the profit pot at the end of that road.

Gina Rinehart is in a prime playmaker role.

Rinehart’s Lynas share play brings to two the number of rare earth companies in which she has taken a key equity position in this month alone. Earlier in the month Rinehart took a similar-sized stake in fellow rare earth miner MP Materials.

Through her privately owned Hancock Prospecting, Rinehart has outlaid $49 million on the Lynas holding – chump change for someone sitting on a fortune of roughly $37 billion at last count, but it has given her a crucial gatekeeper say in how the industry will develop.

Lynas and MP Materials held merger discussions earlier this year, but a deal failed to materialise. However, Rinehart’s share raid on Lynas this week will ignite speculation that a deal between two of the largest rare earths groups outside China might be back on the agenda.

That puts her in a prime playmaker role.

Rare earths are not investments for the faint-hearted. Like many critical minerals, including nickel and lithium, prices have not been owner-friendly.

Both Lynas and MP are developing rare earth processing facilities in Texas, with those plants being designed to displace Chinese finished products from the rare earth supply chain.

Lynas had its US government funding more than double last year as the Biden administration accelerated its mission to secure supplies of rare earths.

QOSHE - In the rare earths Game of Thrones, Gina Rinehart grabs the crown - Elizabeth Knight
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In the rare earths Game of Thrones, Gina Rinehart grabs the crown

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17.04.2024

An important piece of Gina Rinehart’s strategic jigsaw puzzle was publicly placed this week when the iron ore billionaire grabbed a 5.8 per cent stake in Lynas Rare Earths. She seems to have done well, cannily predicting or coat-tailing governments’ bets on supporting critical minerals.

In announcing new additional critical minerals projects on Wednesday, the federal government declared that “the road to net zero runs through Australia’s resources sector” and Rinehart will be........

© The Sydney Morning Herald


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