Originally published by The West Australian.
25.06.2026
Mining and pastoralist billionaire Gina Rinehart is deploying more than $70 million into revolutionary imaging technology that can detect not just cancer but contaminants in iron ore.
The businesswoman’s Hancock Prospecting has taken a $US50m ($US72m) strategic investment in California-based Lumitron Technologies, with the cash to support the commercial development of the company’s Hyperview system, which is said to deliver X-rays with up to 1000 times the resolution of conventional machines.
Hancock, which has been diversifying into technologies including artificial intelligence over the past 12 months, has the right to double its investment to $US100m by the end of 2026.
Lumitron was set up by Australian Nanosonics founder Maurie Stang and American scientists.
It uses a high-energy laser light source to collide a beam of very high energy electrons (VHEE) with a laser beam to produce high-energy, high-resolution X-rays that generate 100 times less radiation than existing machines.
Lumitron says the higher resolutions will improve early cancer detection and enable quicker, targeted treatment, reducing damage to healthy tissue.
Cancer research is a subject close to Mrs Rinehart’s heart, with Hancock a prominent financial backer of research and support services for breast cancer in particular.
However, HyperView also has applications in her WA iron ore empire, where it could be deployed to improve processing of the State’s biggest export earner.
Mrs Rinehart said the machine was “designed to go beyond conventional industrial X-ray systems, which are typically limited to analysing the shape and density of materials”.
“HyperView has the potential to identify the composition and concentration of minerals and contaminants in ore, allowing mining operators to selectively process higher-value ore, thereby improving recovery rates while potentially reducing energy consumption and overall processing costs,” she said.
The investment provides for three machines to be deployed in Australia.
Hancock also gets a board seat with Lumitron.