Monsters of Rock: Gina is raking in the dough, but how much?

• Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting posted a $3.08bn after tax profit for FY25, down from $5.56bn a year earlier
• Australia’s richest person took (another) swipe at government policy in her firm’s now customary commentary
• Jupiter Mines and Capstone report on final day of September season

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has warned about competition from Africa and taken a swipe at Net Zero policies as its profit was clipped from $5.56bn to $3.08bn in FY25.

The iron ore miner’s accounts, which lobbed this morning, showed the impact of weaker iron ore prices, with production at the flagship Roy Hill mine – 70% owned by Hancock – also hit by Tropical Cyclone Zelia early in 2025.

Roy Hill shipped 61.6Mt, with the addition of Hancock’s 50% share of its Hope Downs JV with Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and the Atlas Iron business taking its total iron ore shipments to 91Mt.

The vast bulk of the miner’s after tax profits came from Roy Hill ($1.8bn) and the Hope Downs stake ($832m) ahead of a US$800m contribution for Rio to develop replacement mines at Hope Downs, with 10Mt of shipments from Atlas Iron contributing $260m – Atlas was incorporated into the Roy Hill brand via the formation of Hancock Iron Ore in June.

A new operation called McPhee Creek is due to deliver first ore this financial year, but Hancock took a swipe at “growing regulatory red tape”.

“This is concerning given demand for iron ore has plateaued and first ore from the massive, high-grade Simandou iron ore development (which will compete against Australian ore) is expected before the end of the year,” Hancock’s statement added.

Regulatory grievances were also hinted at in commentary on the Mulga Downs project, a Hancock-owned operation that has been scaled back to 12Mtpa to reduce its environmental footprint.

And there are, of course, more grievances to be aired. CEO Gary Korte take us away.

“Australian industries and companies operate in an environment of escalating government expenditure, including subsidies, benefits, opaque forms of support and increased bureaucratic wastage,” he said.

“Many of these industries and companies cannot afford the massive changes and costs required to meet greater net zero requirements. These costs either have to be passed onto consumers, such as in agriculture, through the price of the food we eat, or if exported, then to our allies and international markets, providing we don’t price ourselves out of the market.

“Given the growing net zero and other government costs, this is an increased risk which could significantly reduce Australia’s tax revenue, and the ability of government to supply services.”

Exec chair Rinehart added to the pile on.

“For the benefit of all Australians, it is crucial to highlight and better communicate these economic realities, including that it is not only privately owned companies that face these problems, so do the services, which we all use, hospitals, ambulances, Royal Flying Doctor Service, defence and many more,” she said.

“Less real investment, record debt and substantial interest payments, declining international competitiveness, record business failures and excess bureaucracy do not enhance our standards of living.”

Hancock paid $2.6bn in Commonwealth and state taxes, and paid out $488m in dividends. As of September 30, $6.41bn has been withheld for payment of dividends into a trust at the centre of a legal dispute between Rinehart and two of her children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart.

What about rare earths?

While profits may have been lower, total assets held by the Hancock brand lifted from $40.876bn to $43.947bn. Borrowings also rose from $360m to $441m, but gearing remained just 1%.

Those assets included stakes in a host of rare earths and critical minerals companies, including Lynas (ASX:LYC) and MP Materials, the west’s two major rare earths producers.

Rinehart’s business has been diverting investment cash to the sector since 2020.

We took a deep dive into those investments a few weeks back.

READ: Gina Rinehart’s critical minerals playbook – where Australia’s mining mogul invests

Hancock also owns agricultural, energy and property assets, including a new West Perth headquarters and remote operation hub expected to open this financial year and a twin-tower business hub in West Perth approved for development this month.

The company paid $780m up front for Mineral Resources’ (ASX:MIN) Perth Basin energy assets, becoming the largest natural gas reserve holder in the region, and owns 49.9% of Senex Energy in partnership with Korea’s POSCO, which is developing a $1bn expansion of the Atlas and Roma North fields in Queensland’s Surat Basin.

On the other hand, the company has deferred a final investment decision on the Ridley magnetite project “highlighting the headwinds of higher costs and lengthening approvals timelines”.

Magnetite iron ore operations are typically more expensive than dig and ship hematite developments and require higher prices to justify, given the need to beneficiate lower grade ores into a higher grade, low impurity product.

Final quarterlies file in

It’s do or die day on the ASX as the final quarterlies shoot through.

Most of these are small companies with little to report, but there’s a bit of gas still in the larger capped miners.

Among the handful of serious players are Jupiter Mines (ASX:JMS) and Capstone Copper Corp (ASX:CSC).

Jupiter, which owns close to half of the Tshipi manganese operation in South Africa, lifted its cash balance 9% to $140.3m despite a 23% decrease QoQ in manganese sales from Tshipi to 837,577t.

That was 19% down on the same quarter in 2024, though the mine’s status as a low cost producer continues to stand out.

Tshipi sold its ore at US$3.86/dmtu CIF, against FOB costs of US$2.27/dmtu (the mtu metric is equivalent to 10kg), despite the impact of a stronger Rand.

The FOB price was down slightly from US$3.28/dmtu to US$3.18/dmtu.

JMS says sales volumes remain on par with historical first quarter averages and on track for full year guidance, with NPAT down from $25.9m in Q4 2025 to $17.8m for Q1 2026.

Jupiter shares, up 86% YTD as investors speculate on takeover interest from major shareholder Exxaro Resources,fell close to 2% in morning trade.

C$9bn capped Capstone, meanwhile, lifted 4% after announcing record adjusted EBITDA of US$249.2m for Q3 2o25, more than double Q3 2024 levels, with operating cash flow up from $116.9m in Q3 2024 to $231.2m in the December quarter.

The South American copper producer sold 56,368t in Q3 at C1 cash costs of US$2.42/lb and realised prices of US$4.49/lb.

That included the 100% owned Mantos Blancos, Pinto Valley and Cozamin and 70% owned Mantoverde.

Capstone, meanwhile, expects to make a decision on the development of the 200,000tpa Santo Domingo project in Chile in H2 2026. It sold 25% of the project and the Sierre Norte project to mine funders Orion Resource Partners for up to US$360m, with a buyback clause for the quarter-share.

Now to AGM season, with Fortescue (ASX:FMG) meeting shareholders in Perth today.

The ASX 300 Metals and Mining index rose 1.45% over the past week.

Which ASX 300 Resources stocks have impressed and depressed?

Making gains 

FireFly Metals (ASX:FFM) (copper) +18.8%

Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) (lithium) +13.9%

Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) (iron ore/lithium) +13.6%

Capstone Copper Corp (ASX:CSC) (copper) +11.8%

Eating losses 

Lynas (ASX:LYC) (rare earths) -19.7%

Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) (gold) -16.7%

WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) (niobium) -15.1%

Develop Global (ASX:DVP) (copper/zinc) -14.4%

Lynas fell as heat came out of the rare earths sector post Trump-Albanese deal.

FireFly claimed a high-grade copper discovery outside the known resource at its Green Bay project in Canada, while strong performance at the latter’s Onslow iron ore hub and analyst forecasts suggesting lithium prices would go higher in the next couple years helped power gains at PLS and MIN.