Hancock Prospecting is an Australian mineral exploration and extraction privately owned company that holds the rights to some of the largest land leases in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, containing the world's largest iron ore deposit. Established in 1955, the company is chaired by Gina Rinehart, estimated to be the wealthiest person in Australia, and the daughter of the company's founder, the late Lang Hancock.

The Hancock Group of Companies are holders of numerous iron ore leases in the Pilbara. The leases cover an area of 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi) predominantly in the Central Pilbara region and contain mineable reserves of Brockman and Marra Mamba ore of over 850 million tonnes. Leases in the Eastern Pilbara region contain mineable reserves of Marra Mamba ore of over 2 billion tonnes, and over 500 million tonnes of ferruginous manganese in their Nicholas Downs Project, which is a joint venture with mining services company Mineral Resources Limited.

In 2011, the company was estimated to be earning about A$870 million in revenue per year. This is based on a 50% share of profits generated at the Hope Downs mine which is operated by Rio Tinto. Hope Downs production levels of 30 million tonnes per year and current prices (around US$140 per tonne) generate over A$2 billion in revenue, and about A$700 million in net cash. In addition, the company receives a 1.25% royalty from iron or sales by Hamersley Iron (operated by a Rio Tinto subsidiary) which delivers about A$170 million a year.

Georgina "Gina" Hope Rinehart (born 9 February 1954) is an Australian businesswoman in the mining industry. She is the heiress of Hancock Prospecting and the daughter of the late mining magnate Lang Hancock and Hope Margaret Nicholas. In the 2010s, Rinehart diversified her business interests to include media organisations, becoming the largest shareholder in Fairfax Media and acquiring a significant stake in Ten Network Holdings. During 2011, both Forbes Asia and Business Review Weekly reported that Rinehart was Australia's wealthiest person. In May 2012 BRW named her as the world's richest woman, having surpassed Christy Walton.

Three of Rinehart's children and beneficiaries, Hope Rinehart Welker, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, have commenced^[when?] legal action in the New South Wales Supreme Court over Rinehart's (as sole trustee) alleged delay of the vesting date of the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust.

Rinehart was born at Perth, Western Australia, the daughter of Hope Margaret Nicholas and Lang Hancock. An only child, Rinehart lived with her parents at Nunyerry, 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Wittenoom, until she was four, later boarding at St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls in Perth. She commenced studying economics at The University of Sydney and later worked for her father, gaining an extensive knowledge of the Pilbara iron-ore industry.

The Four Corners is a region of the United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, northwestern corner of New Mexico, northeastern corner of Arizona and southeastern corner of Utah. The Four Corners area is named after the quadripoint where the boundaries of the four states meet, where the Four Corners Monument is located. The majority of the Four Corners region is part of semi-autonomous indigenous American Indian nations, the largest of which is the Navajo Nation, followed by Hopi, Ute and Zuni Indian nations. The Four Corners region is part of a larger region known as the Colorado Plateau and is mostly rural, rugged and arid. In addition to the monument, commonly visited areas within Four Corners include Monument Valley, Mesa Verde National Park and Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The most populous city in the Four Corners region is Farmington, New Mexico, followed by Durango, Colorado.

The United States first acquired the area now called Four Corners from Mexico after the Mexican–American War in 1848. In 1863 Congress created Arizona Territory from the western part of New Mexico Territory. The boundary was defined as a line running due south from the southwest corner of Colorado Territory, which had been created in 1861. This was an unusual act of Congress, which almost always defined the boundaries of new territories as lines of latitude or longitude, or following rivers. By defining one boundary as starting at the corner of another Congress ensured the eventual creation of four states meeting at a point, regardless of the inevitable errors of boundary surveying. The area was first surveyed by the U.S. Government in 1868 as part of an effort to make Colorado Territory into a state, the first of the Four Corners states formed. The first marker was placed at the spot in 1912. The first Navajo tribal government was established in 1923 to regulate an increasing number of oil exploration activities on Navajo tribal lands.

Graham Hancock (born 2 August 1950 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a British writer and journalist. Hancock specialises in unconventional theories involving ancient civilizations, stone monuments or megaliths, altered states of consciousness, ancient myths and astronomical/astrological data from the past. One of the main themes running through many of his books is the possible global connection with a "mother culture" from which he believes all ancient historical civilizations sprang.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hancock's formative years were spent in India, where his father worked as a surgeon. Having returned to the UK, he graduated from Durham University in 1973, receiving a First Class Honours degree in Sociology.

As a journalist, Hancock worked for many British papers, such as The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Guardian. He was co-editor of New Internationalist magazine from 1976–1979 and East Africa correspondent of The Economist from 1981-1983.