Rinehart randomly gives $100k to 10 workers

On Monday, a source told 6PR Radio’s the John Hughes Rumour File that staff at Roy Hill, which is owned by Hancock Prospecting, were in the draw to win a $100,000 Christmas bonus.

“Apparently last week Gina told all Roy Hill staff to stand-by for an important announcement,” a source told the Perth radio program.

“She announced the fact that she was going to call 10 names out of a hat.

“Those names would each receive a $100,000 Christmas bonus.”

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An anonymous Roy Hill employee called the radio station on Tuesday to confirm the rumour.

The worker added that one of the winners had only been working for the mining company for three months.

Last month, Ms Rinehart pulled in a staggering $2.3 billion after Roy Hill generated a profit of $3.3 billion in the past 12 months, up until July this year.

Despite an impressive income, the figure represented a drop of 28 per cent for Hancock Prospecting compared to the previous year, due to low prices for iron ore amid shortages and trade wars with China.

Hancock owns a majority stake in the mine, at 70 per cent, followed by Marubeni Corporation at 15 per cent, then POSCO with a 12.5 per cent share and China Steel Corporation at just 2.5 per cent.

With the massive profit also came an eye-watering amount of necessary payments, with Roy Hill forking out $761 million in State Royalties and Native Title royalties and $2.1 billion on tax.

The company said it spent a further $2.3 billion to pay contractors for their work.

Mrs Rinehart thanked Roy Hill employees for “another great year” and said Australia benefited as a whole when her company did so well.

The mining magnate is already Australia’s richest person with a net worth of $34 billion, according to the AFR’s most recent rich list.