Wealthy descendants of Pilbara iron ore pioneer Peter Wright in $8.3 billion Rhodes Ridge deal with Mitsui

The WA heirs of Pilbara iron ore pioneer Peter Wright are set to share in a multibillion-dollar payday after selling out stakes in the Rhodes Ridge mine to Japanese corporate giant Mitsui.

Mitsui will pay up to $US5.3 billion ($8.3b) for 40 per cent of the huge, undeveloped Pilbara iron ore deposit while Rio Tinto — the developer of the mine — will retain its 50 per cent share.

The once-disputed tenements were pegged by Mr Wright and fellow prospector Lang Hancock in the 1960s and have been the source of lucrative royalties for the Wright heirs, in line with agreements struck in the 1980s.

Development of the asset will now be taken forward by Rio, Mitsui and billionaire Angela Bennett’s private company AMB Holdings, which is set to retain a 10 per cent slice of the project.

Of the 40 per cent bought by Mitsui, 25 per cent was sold by VOC Group — a private company owned by Peter Wright’s grandchildren Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt — for $US3.3 billion ($5.2b).

AMB Holdings — the private company of Mr Wright’s daughter Angela Bennett — has signed a heads of agreement to sell 15 per cent of her share in the joint venture for ($US2b) $3.1b.

The transaction delivers a massive financial windfall for the trio and highlights the huge spoils iron ore has delivered for those connected to its discovery in WA.

AMB and VOC Group together owned 50 per cent of Rhodes Ridge before the deal was announced on Wednesday, with the remaining half owned by Rio.

In a statement from VOC, the group said it “does not have a strategic ambition to directly participate in the development of a project of this scale, however it wishes to see Rhodes Ridge ultimately become a production asset as part of its ongoing family legacy in the Pilbara region”.

“VOCG felt it was an appropriate time to exit its ownership stake with the Rhodes Ridge Joint Venture agreement having recently been modernised, initial studies having been completed and the pre-feasibility study having commenced.”

A spokesman for AMB Holdings said the family office was “delighted” to have struck the deal.

“Mitsui’s interest in Rhodes Ridge is testament to the high-quality nature of this development and the opportunity it brings,” he said.

“There is strong alignment between Mitsui, Rio Tinto and AMB with our shared commitment to the protection of environmental, cultural and biodiversity value during the development and operations of Rhodes Ridge, and we are excited about the potential for green mining for the future.”

The mine is due to produce its first ore by 2030 and pre-feasibility studies for the operation started in late 2023.

Rio has owned half of the deposit for over 50 years and plans to produce an initial 40 million tonnes per annum from the mine once developed.

The riches of Rhodes Ridge were subject to a long-running legal feud between the two influential prospecting families of Lang Hancock and Peter Wright in a fight that ran from the late 1990s and concluded in the High Court 2013.