In a recent ruling by the WA Supreme Court, Gina Rinehart’s children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, were denied access to documents crucial to their claims in a longstanding feud over mining assets. The court deemed the documents privileged due to containing legal advice exchanged between Ms. Rinehart and her lawyers. This decision came after a lengthy legal process that was criticized for its disproportionate nature.
The feud at hand involves multiple families vying for rights to mining assets originally belonging to iron ore pioneer Lang Hancock. Apart from Rinehart’s children, other parties such as the families of Lang Hancock’s business partner Peter Wright and associate Don Rhodes have also been entangled in similar disputes over mining royalties.
Central to the dispute are the royalties from Hancock’s Hope Downs mines and alleged agreements with various mining entities. The ongoing legal battle continues to unfold, with a judgment in the case pending. The complexity of the case lies in the overlapping claims and assertions of ownership and royalty rights among the feuding families.