Article by Tom Zaunmayr, courtesy of Business News.
30.10.2025
Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill has reported a near-halving of its profit for the 2024-25 financial year due to extreme weather and softening iron ore prices.
Roy Hill on Thursday revealed a $1.8-billion profit for FY25, down from a bumper $3.2bn in FY24.
Iron ore production from Roy Hill slipped slightly to 61.6 million tonnes, down from 64 Mt, due to the impact of ex-tropical cyclone Zelia in February.
State royalties and native title payments totalled $599m, down from $665m, and corporate tax payments were down 40 per cent to $839m.
Hancock Iron Ore executive chairman Gina Rinehart said Roy Hill’s contribution to the economy ensured a high standard of living for Australians.
Mrs Rinehart said government red tape was a threat to this endeavour.
“We need to better understand that excessive government tape, regulations and taxes, intermittent, unreliable and by international standards, high cost electricity, do nothing to enable higher productivity or halt the decline in our international competitiveness, hence do nothing to encourage more investment in mining or indeed other enterprises in Australia, not surviving on government i.e. taxpayer subsidies,” she said.
“Australians simply cannot afford the enormous expenses from a combination of government expenditures including subsidies, handouts, concealed forms of support plus the massive changes and costs required for both companies and services, with the push towards net zero emissions.
“For the benefit of all Australians, it is crucial to highlight and better communicate these economic realities. Less real investment, record debt and substantial interest payments, declining international competitiveness and record business failures, do not enhance our standards of living.”
Mrs Rinehart said development of the McPhee project, currently underway, would ensure the company continued to support the nation.
Data provided by Hancock Iron Ore shows Roy Hill spent $1.8bn with Western Australian suppliers in FY25, and $1bn with Australian suppliers.
Some $886m was spent on staff payments and bonuses.
Hancock Iron Ore chief executive Gerhard Veldsman said Roy Hill’s team had responded well to a challenging year for the business.
“It is a testament to the strong culture of commitment and teamwork we’ve created at Hancock Iron Ore that we can deliver results that make us all proud and continue to work together to build the best mining company for Australia,” he said.
“We have a history we can be proud of, a history of massive contributions helping Australia, and a history of reliability that is needed by our markets.”
The news comes one day after a similar fall in profit was revealed at fellow Hancock Prospecting subsidiary, Atlas Iron.
