Rinehart wins Rio Tinto case

The High Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of Rinehart, one of Asia’s richest women, and heirs to her father’s business partner in their pursuit of royalties from two Rio mines in the Pilbara, Western Australia.

Mining giant Rio Tinto was Wednesday ordered to pay Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart and her late father’s business partner an estimated Aus$200 million (US$145 million) in royalties after losing a court battle.

The mining area in question is home to Rio Tinto’s Channar mine, operated in joint venture with Sinosteel Corp., and Eastern Range mine, which it runs with Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp.

But a court battle erupted when Rio Tinto argued the mines were not continually in their possession for the period and they were therefore not liable for the royalties.

Ben Mitchell, a Melbourne-based spokesman for Rio Tinto, declined to comment immediately on the judgment.

Rio Tinto, the world’s No. 2 exporter of iron ore, an ingredient used in steelmaking, has itself been grappling with a sharp downturn in prices for that commodity. At hearings in March 2013, New South Wales Supreme Court Justice David Hammerschlag was told that about $200 million was at stake.

But in an appeal that was reduced to $89 million in royalties for the Eastern Range Mine only, prompting the High Court challenge.

Lower courts had ruled the payout should be voided due to a lapse in Rio’s control of the Channar Mine in the 1970s.