London: Riding a commodities boom, Gina
Rinehart, Australia's iron ore magnate is set to become the
world's richest person after her fortune more than doubled in
the past year to 6.8 billion pounds.
Rinehart, 57, head of Perth-based Hancock Prospecting is
on course to overtake Carlos Slim, the Mexican magnate worth
46 billion pounds, and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who is
worth 35 billion pounds, Citigroup has estimated.
She is currently the richest person in Australia and
predicted to become the wealthiest in the world, The Telegraph
reported.
Citigroup calculates that three coal and iron ore
projects she is developing will lead her to overtake Slim and
Gates mainly because she owns her companies outright and has
no shareholders.
Rinehart is barely known outside of the business
community. In 1952 her father, Lang Hancock, discovered the
world's largest iron ore deposit in Australia's Pilbara
region.
She married twice. Her second husband was Frank
Rinehart, an American lawyer, who died in 1990, the report
said.
The world's wealthiest woman is Christy Walton, the
widow of John Dalton, the Walmart heir, who is worth USD 26.5
billion.
PTI
First Published: Monday, June 27, 2011, 20:59