Australia's richest woman expands empire into booming cattle industry

Australia's richest woman and mining mogul, Gina Rinehart, has purchased two more cattle farms in Australia's north to add to her growing portfolio, as she moves to cash in on Asia's fast-growing food market.

Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting (HP) company will build on its significant pastoral investments as it moves to diversify its mining business.

On Friday, it was announced that HP had purchased two Northern Territory stations, Riveren and Inverway, from one of Indonesia's largest importers of live cattle, Japfa. That holding will be added to HP's three recent purchases of Fossils Downs, Liveringa and Nerrima stations in Western Australia.

The new stations cover 550,000 hectares of land in the town of Katherine, with a combined herd of 40,000 cattle.

Rinehart said she was excited by the prospects in Australian agriculture.

"I am very excited about the acquisition of these two cattle properties and to be investing in Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory," Rinehart told Western Australian newspapers on Friday.

"I am passionate about our agricultural industry and developing northern Australia."

HP chief executive Gary Korte said the investments complemented the company's flourishing agriculture portfolio.

"With Mrs Rinehart's leadership, Hancock continues to make significant investments to grow our beef operations and to build a dynamic diversified agricultural profile in Australia," Korte said in a statement.

With a proposed transition in Australia's economy, known as the "mining to dining boom," Rinehart has joined fellow Australian business magnates, Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest and Kerry Stokes, as those to have invested strongly in Australia's growing cattle industry. Endit