Australian mining heiress Gina Rinehart is on her way to becoming the world's richest woman after she doubled her fortune to $20.63 billion this week.
Rinehart, who runs the private resources giant Hancock Prospecting, made headlines last year when Citigroup valued her at $11 billion, noting she could take the title of world's richest person if commodity prices stay strong in the coming years.
Now a new investment from South Korean steel giant Posco has taken her one giant step closer, according to Smart Company.
Posco confirmed it will spend about $1.5 billion for a 15% stake in Rinehart's upcoming Roy Hill iron ore mine in Western Australia, which gives the project a total notional value of about $10 billion.
On top of the enormous annual royalty checks she earns from her other resources assets, plus her smaller non-mining investments, Roy Hill is set to lift Rinehart's personal wealth to $20 billion on this year's rich lists, by Smart Company's calculations.
That's not far from Walmart heiress and world's current richest woman Christy Walton, who Forbes has valued at $24.5 billion.
If Rinehart's wealth continues to grow at anywhere near the same pace — she has more large projects in the pipeline, which are eventually expected to generate up to $10 billion a year— the world's absolute wealthiest person Carlos Slim, with a fortune of $63 billion, might need to watch his back.