Mineral Resources pockets $780 million in cash from Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting gas rescue deal

Mineral Resources’ balance sheet has received a welcome boost of $780 million from Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting through the flash sale of its WA gas assets in October. The troubled miner confirmed to the market on Wednesday the bulk of the transaction had been completed, and said it would also pocket an extra $24m by selling half of its explorer drill rig and associated infrastructure to the Rinehart empire in the new year. The cash purchase for MinRes’ oil and gas projects in the Perth Basin as well as exploration acreage in the Carnarvon Basin could be worth up to $1.13 billion. Mrs Rinehart, Hancock’s executive chair and Australia’s richest person, said in October when the deal was announced that she “welcomes the opportunity to work alongside my friend Chris Ellison and his MinRes team”. The remaining $327m for MinRes is subject to new owners at Hancock firming up the resource estimates at the discoveries. The pair will also link up as joint venture partners on two remaining Perth Basin exploration patches. The all-cash deal will see Hancock bolster its presence and set the company up as a key player in WA domestic gas. The private group’s footprint already includes 50 per cent of the adjacent West Erregulla gas field it bought last year in a corporate tussle for Warrego Energy. When the deal was revealed, Mrs Rinehart called for a policy environment conducive to greater gas supply in Australia. “The Federal Government’s Future Gas Strategy and policies should be changed to enable more gas supply. Currently, policy has been set up by the government to disincentivise investment in natural resources projects, including gas,” she said. “The West Australian State Government has made some efforts to reduce tape and duplication, and encourage more investment through policy changes allowing some onshore gas to be sold into higher price export markets to encourage additional gas developments and supply in WA.” “With the Collie coal power station closure having been announced by 2030 gas generation will become more critical to keep the lights on in WA.” For MinRes, the cash will make a sizeable dent in the $5.3b worth of debt it had drawn at the end of the financial year. Another $1.1b was banked earlier this year from the $1.3b sale to Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners of a 49 per cent stake in a private haul road in Onslow. MinRes reported underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) of $1.1b, and a net profit of $114m for the 2024 financial year. Founder and managing director Chris Ellison has previously lamented criticism from analysts regarding his company’s debt management. Unveiling the transaction earlier this year, MinRes chief financial officer Mark Wilson told analysts the deal structure had been “changing right until the last minute”. The gas assets sale to Hancock was announced just under two weeks after Mr Ellison apologised following bombshell discoveries regarding his tax affairs and conduct within the company. That series of revelations prompted his and chair James McClements’ exodus — due within 18 months — as well as an Australian Securities Investments Commission investigation in November.