Source: The Wall Street Journal

By Andrew Critchlow and David Rogers

Just how rich is Georgina “Gina” Rinehart?

According to the latest reckoning by Forbes, Ms. Rinehart–the mining mogul turned newspaper baron after her raid this week on a bigger share of the publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age–is worth a cool US$18 billion, up from US$9 billion last year.

That puts Ms. Rinehart in the big league of global billionaires and the richest women in the entire Asia-Pacific region, according to Forbes’s latest findings.

The printed word may be her latest interest but it’s mining that matters most when it comes to Ms. Rinehart’s bank account. Forbes says that the sale of a 15% stake in her Roy Hill iron ore development to South Korea’s Posco was the main catalysts for her jump in wealth.

If Ms. Rinehart keeps going she will soon overtake Christy Walton, of Wal-Mart fame, whose US$24.5 billion stash makes her the world’s richest woman, Forbes says on its website. Ms. Rinehart was unreachable for comment via the Perth, Western Australia-based offices of her company Hancock Prospecting on Thursday.

“If Gina Rinehart is the richest person in the country and has a media footprint, that would put her in the top few most powerful people in Australia,” says Christopher Macdonald, principal investment adviser at RBS Morgans in Sydney.

But US$18 billion could just be scratching the surface of Ms. Rinehart’s potential.

According to a report last year from Citigroup, which analyzed 400 of the world’s top mining projects, her net worth could eventually approach US$100 billion if output of iron ore, coal and commodity prices continue to rise.

That puts her well on course to overhaul Carlos Slim, the Mexican multi-billionaire, who also likes to flirt with newspapers.

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