MELBOURNE, June 15 (Reuters) – Australia’s wealthiest person, mining baron Gina Rinehart, has taken a stake of more than $1 billion in the record-setting $75 billion SpaceX IPO, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Rinehart’s company Hancock Prospecting did not confirm the size of its stake in Elon Musk’s SpaceX. However, she said in a statement: “This is a significant investment for Hancock, and we are pleased to have received an allocation in what has been an extremely popular and oversubscribed IPO.”
She praised Musk for having built two of the world’s top 10 largest companies.
“We see SpaceX as a rare business: led by a truly exceptional person, technically exceptional and operating in sectors that are crucial, and with long-term potential,” said Rinehart, whose wealth was built on iron ore mined by her company, Hancock Prospecting.
Hancock, which is a significant investor in critical minerals projects, aims to work with SpaceX on supplying its mineral needs.
“In the future, we also see the possibility of mutually beneficial arrangements between SpaceX and Hancock Prospecting’s significant critical minerals investments, as demand grows for the materials and infrastructure needed to support advanced technology,” Hancock CEO Garry Korte said in the statement.
Hancock is a significant investor in a swathe of rare earths companies including U.S.-based MP Materials, and Rare Earths Americas, and Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths, as well as lithium producer Liontown Resources among many others.
It bulked up its defence, gold and rare-earths holdings in its $3.3 billion U.S. portfolio this year, filings showed last month.
Rinehart’s investment in SpaceX was an instant winner. The shares shot up 19% in their debut last Friday, sending the company’s value past $2 trillion to make it the sixth-biggest U.S. company as investors jumped at the chance to get a piece of Musk’s sprawling empire spanning rockets, satellites and AI.
While commending Musk’s entrepreneurial prowess, Rinehart also called him a patriot for slashing U.S. federal jobs through President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“SpaceX is yet another clear example of why the world needs more enterprise, more builders and much less bureaucracy,” Rinehart said.
Rinehart, too, has become increasingly political, encouraging some of Australia’s wealthiest voters to shift support from the country’s opposition Liberal-National conservatives to populist, anti-migration party One Nation.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Sonali Paul)
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