Rich List fortunes gouged by green metals slump

In 2021, Wedin brought Rinehart and her son, John Hancock, onto the Vulcan share register, before the green lithium hopeful’s stunning rise and fall marked it out as a bellwether for speculative enthusiasm across the clean energy sector.

“I’ve been incredibly fortunate to live in a country that backs entrepreneurs,” Wedin says. “But I never see myself as a ‘Rich Lister’. I’m trying to create value for our shareholders, and I’m trying, although it sounds trite, to leave behind a greener planet.”

The fall in lithium and nickel prices has had a widespread impact on the resources sector. IGO last week said it would close its Cosmos nickel mine in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, while Core Lithium has stopped production at its Grants open pit mine in the Northern Territory, taking a big write-down.

The minerals are used in battery production, and while demand is growing, it is doing so more slowly than expected and with plenty of supply available.

The fortune of another major lithium investor, Chris Ellison, also slid marginally as shares in Mineral Resources, where he holds a substantial stake, fell. That has brought the billionaire’s paper wealth down $363 million since July 1. Ellison’s wealth increased 28.4 per cent last year to $2.25 billion, the Rich List estimated in May.

Bernard Rowe, the Sydney-based chief executive of Ioneer, acknowledges his paper wealth has plunged despite the lithium explorer’s project in the US state of Nevada, securing $US700 million ($1.06 billion) in conditional debt funding from the Biden administration.

“Downturns like this can be painful, but they’re part and parcel of the resource sector,” says Rowe. “There’s probably a bit more volatility in lithium as it’s an emerging market, and I’m a large shareholder, but I don’t think about it.”

The value of Rowe’s Ioneer shareholding fell some 64 per cent – or $10 million – since July 1. Rowe, however, is optimistic that the sector will rebound.

“I’m just focused on getting our project permitted and built,” he says.

“We also have to keep in mind that [lithium] pricing today is not what it will be in a year or two. There’ll be ups and downs along the way, regardless of whether the share price is high or low. I don’t think about my net worth.”

Other metals needed for the energy transition have tumbled in value over the past 12 months. The price of rare earths required to manufacture magnets common in electric vehicles and other appliances is down, alongside nickel, copper and cobalt.

Nickel prices are more than 50 per cent lower over 12 months to $US16,538 a tonne on January 29, as low-cost Indonesian production creates a supply glut.

The rout has forced the closure of West Australian nickel mines bought for $760 million by Wyloo – the billionaire Forrest family’s private company – just six months ago.

Rare winners

But the race to lower carbon emissions – and the huge amounts of capital it demands – still has the ability to create dramatic increases in wealth.

Tony Rovira, the managing director of Azure Minerals, has watched the value of his shareholding climb more than 390 per cent, or $18 million, over the six months to December 31. Rinehart and Chilean giant Sociedad Quimica y Minera lobbed a blockbuster $1.7 billion bid for the company earlier that month, sending shares soaring.

Elsewhere, Rhys Bradley and Thomas Lyons – both directors at lithium play WA1 Resources – booked around $39 million in paper profits between them as shares roughly doubled in value, thanks to the critical minerals tearaway attracting strong interest in its West Arunta project, about 1300 kilometres from Port Hedland.