![Hancock Prospecting chairwoman Gina Rinehart.](/content/dam/images/g/t/7/q/6/0/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gw1538.png/1494456942952.jpg)
The $400 million fertiliser investment mining billionaire Gina Rinehart made last year is already paying off.
Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting clinched a deal last October with London-listed Sirius Minerals under which it would buy $US50 million equity in the company and purchase a royalty stream from products sold from Sirius's polyhalite project in Yorkshire for $US250 million.
Sirius recently began preliminary construction work on the project and has just completed a move from the London Alternative Investments Market to the main London Stock Exchange. Its shares are up 27 per cent since January 1.
The company's big project is a Yorkshire mine at northern England's North York Moors National Park, involving the construction of a mine, a 37-kilometre underground conveyor system, and materials handling and port facilities.
Polyhalite is a naturally occurring mineral containing four of the nutrients key to plant growth, including potassium and sulphur.
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But Rinehart is not the only Australian involvement in Sirius. The company's managing director is Chris Fraser, a former BRW Young Rich list member and Citi investment banker, and its chairman is long-time Fortescue Metals Group executive Russell Scrimshaw.
Fraser acted as lead adviser on a $2 billion capital financing deal for Fortescue Metals Group before pursuing the UK mining opportunity via his York Potash business.
Negotiating with the Queen
His business was acquired by Sirius, which put him in charge and by 2012 he had identified the minehead site inside North York Moors National Park. Five years later, Sirius is poised to begin full construction later this year.
Fraser now has a stake worth about £29 million ($50 million) in Sirius, while Schrimshaw has a £24 million ($42 million) stake. Another former Fortescue identity, Chris Catlow, is also a shareholder and ex-Sirius director. He has shares worth about £10 million ($18 million).
Rinehart's other listed stocks have not performed as well. Network Ten shares have fallen about 71 per cent this year, and her stock in minnow Sun Resources is down 44 per cent.
She is also a big benefactor to the Australian Olympic movement, sponsoring four sports, including volleyball and swimming.
Her involvement in sport includes a connection with Chinese property development group Shanghai CRED, with which Hancock teamed up to buy Australian cattle company S.Kidman & Co for $386.5 million last December.
Rinehart is set to make an appearance at the Port Adelaide versus Gold Coast Suns AFL match in Shanghai on Sunday. The match is sponsored by CRED.
Kidman made an after-tax profit of $26.7 million from a trading profit of $65 million in the 2016 financial year, according to the company's accounts lodged with the corporate regulator.