Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has snapped up two cattle stations in the Northern Territory, adding to the billionaire's steadily expanding livestock portfolio.
Hancock has acquired the Riveren and Inverway cattle stations, located southwest of the town of Katherine, from Indonesian cattle importer Japfa for an undisclosed sum.
The two properties stretch over 550,000 hectares of land and hold a combined herd of 40,000 head of cattle.
Ms Rinehart, Australia's richest woman according to Forbes, has been one of the biggest investors in cattle stations over the past two years as she bets on rapidly growing demand for Australian livestock and dairy in Asia.
The iron ore mining magnate's livestock portfolio includes several cattle stations in Western Australia's Kimberley region and in NSW, and she is the largest owner of prime Wagyu cattle in Australia.
She also plans to create one of the country's largest dairy farms to produce infant formula for export.
"Hancock continues to make significant investments to grow our beef operations and to build a dynamic diversified agricultural profile in Australia," Hancock chief executive Garry Korte said in a statement.
"We plan to invest further to grow our herd numbers on Hancock cattle stations and are just beginning to develop the 2GR beef brand to capture additional value."
Hancock's new Roy Hill mine in the Pilbara region of WA began shipping iron ore to Asia late last year, and expects to soon boost shipments to 55 million tonnes annually.
