Australia's Rinehart now world's richest woman

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart is the world's richest woman. Photo / File

Gina Rinehart grows A$1 million wealthier every half hour.

Family financial squabbles have done nothing to stop her relentless rise as the richest woman in Australia, and now the world.

Her A$29 billion ($38 billion) mining fortune is A$3 billion greater than Christy Walton's, the widow whose inherited wealth springs from the US retail giant Wal-Mart.

Rinehart has ridden Australia's resources boom like no one else, her wealth ballooning by an unparalleled A$18.87 billion in the past year, according to BRW magazine's annual rich list.

That equates to A$1,077,0540 every 30 minutes of every day.

The gargantuan increase flows from foreign investment in new projects, increased production and a recovery in the iron ore price over the past six months, BRW says.

And much more could be on the way.

"If the demand for natural resources remains strong, additional multi-billion mines are almost inevitable," said BRW Rich List editor Andrew Heathcote.

"There is a real possibility that Rinehart will become not just the richest woman in the world but the richest person in the world."

That title is currently held by Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helu, with A$69 billion.

"An A$100 billion fortune is not out of the question for Rinehart if the resources boom continues unabated," said Heathcote.

Three of Rinehart's four children - John Hancock, Bianca Rinehart and Hope Welker - launched a lawsuit against their mother last September in a bid to oust her as trustee of the multibillion-dollar family trust established by her late father Lang Hancock.

Unlike many wealthy heirs, Rinehart has not just maintained her fortune but multiplied it many times over.

When she made her debut on the rich list after her father's death in 1992, her net wealth was estimated at A$75 million.

Now she is worth 386 times as much.

-AAP