Gina Rinehart is Australia’s richest—and most controversial—billionaire.

Illustration by Gregory Manchess / New Yorker

Gina Rinehart Illustration by Gregory Manchess / New Yorker

We had missed this fascinating New Yorker profile of Gina Rinehart, Australia's wealthiest person, the second generation iron ore prospecting titan, who, along with her father, deserves much of the credit for developing the Pilbara (pronounced: Pilbra), one of the richest iron ore finds in the world, located in Northwest Australia.

Interestingly, for one of mining's richest persons, Rinehart's company Hancock Prospecting employs a mere 40 people. This is as a result of her father making great mineral finds and having other larger extraction companies do much of the work. Rinehart's interest is worth easily in the tens of billions of dollars.

She is portrayed as equal parts brilliant and mad, both refusing to take interviews with journalists and yet investing billions to exert control over media in her home country, and according to sources close to her, being extremely vulnerable to her own public image. Rinehart is an Australian fascination. This is a captivating profile.

Article: William Finnegan, New Yorker