Atlas Iron’s first dividend delivers Rinehart $225m
Article by Sean Smith courtesy of The West Australian.
Gina Rinehart will pocket a $225 million dividend from her junior Pilbara miner Atlas Iron, despite weaker iron ore prices sending its profits tumbling last year.
It is the first dividend from the miner since it was taken over by Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting for $427 million in 2018 after a three-way tussle with Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group and Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources.
Most of the billionaire’s mining wealth is drawn from her 70 per cent-owned Roy Hill iron ore mine in the Pilbara, but Atlas has also proved a lucrative money-spinner, particularly when iron ore prices topped $US230 a tonne in early 2021. With prices more than halving since then, new corporate filings show the company’s latest profit fell from $938m to $302m in the 12 months to June 30, as revenue fell from $1.7 billion to $1.3b.
Atlas Iron said the weaker iron ore prices and higher freight costs suppressed margins, nearly halving cash generated from its operations to $591m from $1.02b previously. The company called out construction of the Miralga mine on budget and ahead of schedule with first haulage completed one month ahead of plan, noting Indigenous contractor East West Pilbara had undertaken the civil and construction works and remained involved in the project’s ongoing operations.