Gina Rinehart boosts investment in Donald Trump’s Truth Social while beefing up US portfolio

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has significantly increased her bet on US President Donald Trump’s Truth Social social media platform.

The mining billionaire is a long-standing member of the Trump support group and has close ties with the President, celebrating his election night victory with close friends at his Mar-a-lago residence in West Palm Beach.

She has also called for Mr Trump’s policy agenda to be followed in Australia, including setting up a Department of Government Efficiency and following the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting increased its holdings of Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates Truth Social, by 67 per cent in the June quarter, according to a regulatory filing cited by Bloomberg.

The stake is believed to be worth about $US4.5 million ($6.92m)

Hancock’s portfolio of US-traded and exchange-traded funds was worth about $US3.1 billion as of June 30.

Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock has been a major investor in a number of US ventures including rare earths miner and refiner MP Materials, of which she owns 7.8 per cent.

The US Department of Defence last month struck a landmark deal with MP Materials to acquire a 15 per cent stake in the Las Vegas-headquartered company and inked an offtake agreement to buy MP’s Californian production of rare earth materials at a set minimum price.

The deal saw Mrs Rinehart add more than $400m to her net worth in the space of 24 hours owing to her major stakes in MP and Lynas. Lynas has operations in WA and Malaysia with ambitions to build a rare earths refinery in Texas.

Shares in MP have rocketed more 70 per cent since the deal, according to Bloomberg, inflating the value of Mrs Rinehart’s holding to more than $US1b.

Mrs Rinehart also reportedly increased her investment in Canadian copper giant Teck Resources and took fresh positions in copper-focused critical minerals company Hudbay Minerals, uranium explorer NexGen Energy, US chip giant Nvidia and Dell Technologies.