Gina Rinehart

She married Englishman Greg Milton in 1973. The couple had two children and divorced in 1981.

Her second marriage in 1983 was to a much older man, Frank Rinehart, who was a German American corporate lawyer. This marriage too produced two children. Frank died in 1990.

Rinehart has been actively involved in promoting the cause of development of Australia's North. She has founded the lobby group ANDEV, ("Australians for Northern Development & Economic Vision") and has spoken, written articles and published a book on the development of Australia’s North.

She was born as the only child of Hope Margaret Nicholas and Lang Hancock in Perth, Western Australia, on 9 February 1954. Her father was a wealthy businessman who was famous for discovering the world's largest iron ore deposit in 1952 and founding the Hancock Prospecting group.

Gina was sent to St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls in Perth for her schooling. As the daughter of one of the richest men in Australia, she lived a lavish life. Her father doted on her completely and ensured that she enjoyed all the luxuries money could buy.

From an early age she was groomed to succeed her father. Lang Hancock took his daughter on business trips and made her attend the company’s meetings. Gina inherited her father’s interest in the mining business and gained valuable experience in the field while still a young girl.

After completing her schooling she enrolled in the University of Sydney to study economics. However, she did not like her university life and returned home to her father to help him in the business.

She was a bright young woman with a genuine interest in expanding the business her father had so lovingly built. After dropping out of college she joined her father and gained extensive knowledge of how the mining and iron-ore industry operated.

Lang Hancock died in 1992. Married and widowed by now, Gina Rinehart inherited her father’s business and became the Chairperson of Hancock Prospecting Pty Limited (HPPL) and the HPPL Group of companies.

During her father’s time, the company’s mining activities were mainly related to exploration and accumulation of vast mining lease. Hancock Prospecting also received royalties from Hamersley Iron since the late 1960s.

After inheriting the business Gina set upon growing and expanding it. She focused on developing the company’s underdeveloped deposits and entered into several joint venture partnerships for raising capital.

Hancock Prospecting entered into a joint venture with Rio Tinto and shares 50 per cent of the profits generated by the Hope Downs mine, which is operated by Rio Tinto and produces 30 million tonnes of iron ore annually. The company also has a joint venture with Mineral Resources Limited at Nicholas Downs, northwest of Newman, which produces 500 million tonnes of ferruginous manganese.

Gina Rinehart won the Australian Export Heroes Award (in recognition of an extraordinary contribution to the growth and development of Australian exports) in 2009.

In 2011, she won Government Media Mining Awards for Outstanding Leadership of a Mining Company.

In 2012 she was named the Trailblazer of Australia for promoting Australia internationally. This was the first time the Trailblazer Award had been awarded to an individual rather than a company.

She won CEO Magazine's Chairperson of the Year award in 2014.

She was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award – The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in 2014.