Rinehart’s rare earth stakes take $478M paper hit

Falling shares of MP Materials (NYSE: MP) and Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) have cut the value of Gina Rinehart’s rare-earths holdings by an estimated A$680 million ($478 million) over the past year.

The decline is an unrealized paper loss rather than a loss on asset sales, according to the Australian Financial Review. MP Materials accounts for roughly two-thirds of the drop, with most of the remainder attributed to Lynas.

MP Materials shares have lost more than one-third of their value over the past year, closing at $45.43 in U.S. trading Tuesday, while Lynas has fallen 19% to A$13.64.

The setback comes as Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting pushes deeper into critical minerals beyond the iron ore business that built her fortune. Rare earth investments now account for roughly 10% of her estimated $25.1 billion fortune, alongside holdings in lithium and copper.

Hancock’s stake in MP Materials is worth about $834 million, based on the latest U.S. filings cited by the Financial Review. MP shares surged in 2025 after the company struck a multibillion-dollar agreement with the Pentagon before retreating from those gains.

The agreement included a $400 million U.S. defence department investment, a 10-year price floor for neodymium-praseodymium products and a decade-long commitment covering magnets from MP’s planned 10X manufacturing facility.

Strategic exposure

Hancock has also built positions in earlier-stage rare earth developers, including Arafura Rare Earths (ASX: ARU), which is advancing the Nolans project in Australia’s Northern Territory.

It has also backed St George Mining (ASX: SGQ), developer of the Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil. Hancock invested A$22.5 million for a 6.24% interest in the company.

The investments give Hancock exposure to two of the leading rare earth producers outside China through MP Materials and Lynas, while its development-stage holdings offer greater upside but depend on financing, construction and the expansion of processing capacity.

That strategy is unfolding as rare earth supply remains a focus of U.S.-China trade discussions. Following President Donald Trump’s September meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the White House said the two countries continued to work on U.S. concerns about supply shortages involving rare earths and other critical minerals.

John Hancock, Rinehart’s eldest child and a director of White Cliff Minerals (ASX: WCN), one of his mother’s more recent investments, has backed her rare earth strategy while saying he would rank copper first among minerals positioned to benefit from rising demand.