Andrew Forrest and his family have a net worth 0f $14.4 billion but it’s unlikely that they have ever earned an easier $500 million thanks to a well-timed investment in gold, a metal also attracting fellow Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart.
Both Forrest and Rinehart, with her estimated net worth of $26.4 billion made their fortunes mining iron ore but as demand for that steel-making material peaks and the price eases they’re spreading their portfolios.
Energy has been an attraction for both though with differences.
Forrest prefers his energy served green with investments in wind and solar power as well as a largely failed attempt to master green hydrogen.
Rinehart prefers traditional energy with a large and growing exposure to oil and gas as well as highly profitable investments in rare earths in Australia and the U.S.
Gold has been added recently, partly because the price has been rising strongly for the past three years but also because it’s a natural for both as their families have deep roots in Australia’s major gold-producing State of Western Australia.
Fast $500 Million
Forrest’s fast $500 million came by exercising an option to increase his stake in the relatively new miner Greatland Gold which acquired the big Telfer mine from U.S.-based Newmont 18-months two ago when gold price was around $2400 an ounce.
At the time of the Telfer purchase, one of the Forrest family companies, Wyloo, had a roughly 9% stake in Greatland as well as having an option to buy another 9.9% from Newmont at a price of US$2 a share (A$3).
When Forrest exercised the Wyloo option last week Greatland was trading at $9, triggering an instant profit of $500 million.
Like all gold mining companies Greatland has been riding high on the gold price which has more than doubled to $4987 since it bought Telfer.
Wyloo chief executive Luca Giacomazzi said he was confident that there was more value to be unlocked in Telfer and the nearby Havieron gold deposit.
Rinehart’s gold exposure took two steps forward last week, firstly through an investment in emerging Australian gold explorer Ballard Mining which raised $40 million in fresh capital for work on its Mt Ida project in Western Australia.
But her 5.1% interest in Ballard held through her family company Hancock Prospecting is less interesting than an investment in gold exploration in Saudi Arabia with Saudi State-owned investment company Maaden.
Midana Exploration, a Hancock subsidiary, has been awarded five exploration permits with Maaden covering 9300 square miles in the Nabita Ad-Duwayhi gold belt in Saudi Arabia.
Rinehart said she was excited by Saudi Arabia’s ambition to build a world-class mining industry a reflected in its pro-mining policies.
