Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Iron Ore Cuts Hundreds of Jobs at Pilbara Operations 

Hancock Iron Ore, the mining arm of Gina Rinehart’s empire, is slashing hundreds of jobs across its Pilbara operations as part of an overhaul to extend the life of its mines.

The company has not disclosed how many roles will be cut but reports range from 150–500 jobs being impacted. Roy Hill merged with Atlas Iron last year leading to the job losses. Total employment across operations is approximately 5,000 people.

Job Cuts Sparked by Mine Plan Review

The decision came after the completion of Hancock Iron Ore’s annual life-of-mine planning process.

The review identified opportunities to optimise ore mining, processing and blending across the company’s operations. Hancock said the new plan will enable its mines to operate for at least another 10 years, bringing the operations right out now over the next five decades. It is also aimed at balancing ore that can be converted into product and waste mining.

The company announced that the changes will reduce mining activity at the Roy Hill mine while producing at above 63 million tonnes per annum for the Roy Hill system. In a statement, Hancock said it is working its way through the implications and will be in consultation with impacted employees.

Roy Hill is still a large-scale iron ore business

Hancock Iron Ore owns and operates eastern Australia’s largest iron ore operation, supplying more than 60 million tonnes of iron ore every year to export markets.

And last financial year Roy Hill made a $1.8 billion profit. The company said profits were nearly halved from the previous year because of record rain, a cyclone and lower iron ore prices. These job losses come less than a year after the two iron ore operators were combined under Hancock Iron Ore.

After Hancock Invested in SpaceX, the Job Cuts Follow

These mass redundancies were announced days after Hancock Prospecting revealed that Gina Rinehart had paid $1.4 billion for a stake in SpaceX. The deal was completed in the weeks leading up to when Hancock Iron Ore’s Pilbara operations intended to make a public announcement on its staff cuts following SpaceX’s planned IPO.

Source: news au 

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