Hindsight is always wonderful. Roy Hill project started...

Hindsight is always wonderful.

Roy Hill project started construction while iron ore price was around US$130/ton, but iron ore price fell to as low as US$39 when the project construction finished in December 2015. The media reported Roy Hill would be the cause of falling iron ore price, and Roy Hill project would be in a trouble as it borrowed $7.2b debt. But the $7.2b debt was fully repaid within five years, now generated multiple billion dollars profit every year.

Here's an article published in 2015, good for read,

Gina Rinehart attacks 'relentless negativity' of media reporting on Roy Hill iron ore project

By Kathryn Diss
Posted Wed 9 Dec 2015 at 11:21am


Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart has had a spray at the media for "talking down" the first shipment of iron ore from the Roy Hill project, as prices for the commodity tumble to their lowest level in a decade.
The MV Anangel Explorer arrived at Port Hedland last week and was due to leave with the shipment on Friday but technical problems and tidal issues have delayed its departure until later this week.

The ship is now loaded and Mrs Rinehart has released a statement, criticising media reporting of the issue.
"Despite the many media critics and their relentless negativity, we have now loaded a ship of Roy Hill low phosphorous ore ... the next step in the exciting story of the Roy Hill Project," Mrs Rinehart said.

Mrs Rinehart's company Hancock Prospecting, which holds a majority stake in the Roy Hill project, started construction at the mine in early 2014 and had planned to ship the first ore in September.
But lengthy court battles between contractors, safety concerns and cost overruns have been a drag on the deadline.

Just last month, Roy Hill was in court with lead contractor Samsung, accusing it of "deliberately holding back the project".

Mrs Rinehart said a positive look at the project was long overdue.
"Where are the media reports about the many companies who were pleased to get work from Roy Hill? Surely this is of far more importance to Australia than the media's glee about so-called time slippages," Mrs Rinehart said.

"Yet which topic has had intense media repetition? As I've said publicly before, congratulations are overdue for the remarkable performance of all the men and women who worked so hard on this mega project to achieve it."

Analysts have also questioned the timing of the first shipment as iron ore prices this week tumbled to their lowest level since the commodity started spot-market trading a decade ago, falling below $US40 a tonne.
Media reports 'ill-informed, headline-seeking': Tad Watroba

Hancock Prospecting executive director Tad Watroba also attacked the media over suggestions Roy Hill was pushing down the price of iron ore.

"This ill-informed, headline-seeking media barrage ignores that Roy Hill won't ramp up to large-capacity tonnage even next year, while incredibly ignoring the growth of ore exports from Brazil and other Australian suppliers," Mr Watroba said.

He also said 90 per cent of Roy Hill's production had been secured under long-term contracts and very little ore would enter the spot market.

Long-term contracts for a large part of production are often necessary to secure bank financing, but analysts believe that does not necessarily guarantee prices above the spot-price.