Australia’s New South Wales Supreme Court has ordered Rio Tinto to pay $200 million in royalties to mining magnate Gina Rinehart and others, based on a 43-year-old iron ore claim. Rio Tinto officials said they are now reviewing the ruling that said they must compensate Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and its former partner Wright Prospecting for royalties on production from two iron ore deposits in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Justice David Hammerschlag said Mount Bruce Mining, a Rio Tinto subsidiary, is responsible for the payment after 10 days of hearings. Rio Tinto had argued the royalty payouts were unnecessary as the contested 150 km of land in Channar and the Eastern Range did not fall within the 1970 agreement.
