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Metals and mining can be a very profitable business for the individuals at the top, but success can also come and go based on volatile commodity prices. The average time to make a billion dollars in the sector is 16 years, compared to 21 years across all industries.
Although tech and bank CEOs get all the limelight, eight of the 100 richest people in the world are in the metals and mining industry. Today’s graphic shows the top 20 metals and mining billionaires, based on the Forbes Billionaires List.
Steel producers dominate the list, followed by copper miners.
Despite being major players in the mining industry, the United States and Canada don’t have representatives on the list.
Russia’s huge geographic area is filled with rich mineral resources providing a fertile ground for mining billionaires. It is the largest miner of diamonds and palladium, and the second-largest miner of platinum and nickel. It is no wonder this country hosts eight of the 20 richest people in the industry, including the first few on the list.
Alexey Mordashov, son of steel mill workers that had to use welfare coupons to raise the family, is the first on the list. The 55-year-old businessman is the majority shareholder in steel company Severstal. In the Forbes ranking, which takes into account the assets of the whole family, Mordashov ranks first among all Russian billionaires.
Next on the metals billionaire list is Vladimir Potanin, individually the wealthiest man in Russia and the owner of Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and nickel.
The first woman on the mining billionaires list in the fifth spot, is Australia’s Gina Rinehart, Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting. The 67-year-old executive is the only child of legendary explorer Lang Hancock, who discovered the world’s largest iron ore deposit in 1952.
Hancock died in 1992, leaving a bankrupt estate to Gina. She rebuilt and expanded the company over the following decade. As a result, she became a billionaire in 2006 during the iron ore boom.
“If you’re jealous of those with more money, don’t just sit there and complain; do something to make more money yourself”
— Gina Rinehart
The list also includes the wealthiest person in Chile, Iris Fontbona. Iris is the widow of Andrónico Luksic, who built a fortune in the mining, financial, and beverages sectors, including the top copper miner Antofagasta.
As demand for most minerals increases due to new technologies and the energy transition, the world needs metals and mining more than ever and soon there will be a new list of billionaires who built their fortune on the minerals of tomorrow.
(This article first appeared in the Visual Capitalist Elements)
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