Botvinick Secures Breakthrough T1D Award to Develop Next-Generation Continuous Glucose and C-Peptide Monitor

Dr. Elliot L. Botvinick, Professor, Surgery and Biomedical Engineering,has been awarded the prestigious Breakthrough T1D Award, a three-year, $900,000 grant aimed at transforming the landscape of Type 1 diabetes monitoring.

The funded project sets out to invent, develop, and rigorously test a first-of-its-kind Continuous Glucose and C-Peptide Monitor (CGCPM).  The device will be designed not only to perform in a research setting, but to be fully ready for clinical testing upon the project’s completion. This direct responsiveness to Breakthrough T1D’s call for proposals reflects the urgency and real-world applicability at the heart of Dr. Botvinick’s work.

 From Sensing Molecules to Smart Optodes

The research begins at the molecular level. Using computational design and precisely controlled molecular mutation, the team will engineer specialized sensing molecules that consume oxygen at rates that vary with the concentration of C-peptide, a key biomarker for insulin production in individuals with Type 1 diabetes.

These molecules will be embedded into a novel membrane, which is then mounted onto a miniaturized light-emitting diode (LED), which is the same technology found in modern smartphone displays. When activated, the LED induces phosphorescence (similar to a glow-in-the-dark effect) that corresponds directly to C-peptide concentration. This LED-and-membrane pairing is what the team calls an optode.

Multi-Analyte Wearable Monitor

The new C-peptide optode will be seamlessly integrated into the Lifestrip technology, already developed by Dr. Botvinick’s  Bio-Engineering Advanced Medical Solutions (BEAMS) Laboratory. The platform currently houses optodes for glucose, lactate, oxygen, and the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate. This multi-analyte wearable monitor is known as GLOBE (General Lifestrip Optode-Based Equipment). With the addition of C-peptide sensing capability, the enhanced version becomes cGLOBE.

In form, cGLOBE will be familiar, as it is comparable in size to today’s state-of-the-art continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). Its thin sensor is inserted in a similarly minimally invasive manner, while offering far greater depth of metabolic insight by continuously monitoring multiple analytes simultaneously.

 Bridging the Gap Between Benchtop to Bedside

Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of this project is its unwavering commitment to clinical readiness. While many promising sensor technologies succeed on the laboratory benchtop but stall before reaching patients, the BEAMS Laboratory brings rare and demonstrated expertise in bridging that gap. The final and most critical objective of the grant is to ensure that cGLOBE is fabricated with full documentation, safety testing, sterilization protocols, engineering validation, and clinical experience. This allows for the delivered device to proceed directly into clinical testing without delay.

Improving Patient Care

This award represents a significant milestone in the fight against Type 1 diabetes, offering the promise of a wearable, continuous, multi-analyte monitoring solution that could meaningfully improve patient outcomes and advance our understanding of beta-cell function.

Click here or visit https://bli.uci.edu/elliotbotvinick/ for more information about Dr. Botvinick and the BEAMS laboratory.

 

 

Gina Rinehart backs breakthrough X-ray technology that could detect cancer

14 July 2026 – 05:51AM

Sky News host Rita Panahi highlights Gina Rinehart’s $72 million investment in Australian imaging technology capable of detecting both cancer and contaminants in iron ore. “Hancock Prospecting executive chairwoman Gina Rinehart is investing $72 million dollars into the X-ray company Lumitron,” Ms Panahi said. “The revolutionary imaging technology can detect contaminants in iron ore but also cancer.”

https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/rita-panahi/gina-rinehart-backs-breakthrough-xray-technology-that-could-detect-cancer/video/619547a04128ac44045090b256bbac23

Click here or visit https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/rita-panahi/gina-rinehart-backs-breakthrough-xray-technology-that-could-detect-cancer/video/619547a04128ac44045090b256bbac23 to watch Skynews.com.au broadcast.

 

 

UC Irvine Anti-Cancer Challenge 2025 Awardees

The UC Irvine Anti-Cancer Challenge is proud to announce the funding of a diverse range of innovative cancer research projects at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and its pediatric cancer affiliate, CHOC, part of Rady Children’s Health.

Through the unwavering support of dedicated participants, donors and supporters who collectively raised more than $1.5 million in 2025, the Anti-Cancer Challenge has awarded grants to 30 pilot projects and early phase clinical trials, reaching a remarkable milestone of 190 funded projects since 2017. These projects are poised to revolutionize the future of cancer diagnosis, treatment and cures.

Anti-Cancer Challenge funds novel research projects article | UCI Health | Orange County, CA

By registering for the 2026 Anti-Cancer Challenge, you can help fund the next round of innovative cancer research projects.

Track 1: Pilot Projects

A New Strategy to Kill Kinase Inhibitor Resistant Tumors
Investigator
Anand Ganesan, MDDepartment of Dermatology, UC Irvine School of Medicine
Small molecule inhibitors that target kinase mutations observed in cancer can rapidly shrink tumors with the relevant mutations, but these tumors can recur rapidly (< 6 months) by activating signaling loops that bypass the effects of kinase inhibitors. Kinase inhibitor resistant tumors are no longer responsive to either kinase inhibitor therapies or immunotherapies, and new approaches are needed to prevent resistance/ treat resistant tumors. UCI-developed drugs that target CDC42 signaling can block signaling loops activated in resistant tumors, identifying a new way to treat kinase inhibitor resistant tumors. We uncover how CDC42 inhibitors developed by our group kill kinase inhibitor resistant tumors and identify CDC42 signaling pathways that are amplified in kinase inhibitor resistant human tumors.

Robotic-Guided Optical Coherence Tomography for Real-Time Evaluation of Peripheral Pulmonary Nodules in Early Lung Cancer Detection
Investigators
Thomas W Waddington, MD, Department of Medicine, UC Irvine School of Medicine
Zhongping Chen, PhD, Department of Biomedical Engineering, UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death, and many patients undergo invasive biopsies to determine whether a lung nodule is cancerous. Current imaging methods can locate nodules but cannot provide detailed structural information before tissue is removed, exposing patients to risks such as bleeding or lung collapse. This project will integrate a high-resolution optical imaging technology with robotic bronchoscopy to allow physicians to visualize microscopic tissue features in real time during evaluation. By improving early and more precise assessment of lung nodules, this approach may reduce unnecessary procedures and enhance the safety and accuracy of lung cancer diagnosis.

Click here or visit https://bit.ly/acc-awardees-2025 to see a full list of UC Irvine Anti-Cancer Challenge 2025 awardees.

Hancock Prospecting backs Lumitron to advance world-first mining, imaging and cancer therapy technology

Australian-backed investment to support global commercial scale-up of HyperVIEW™ across healthcare and mining industrial applications

Australia, June 2026 – Hancock Prospecting has provided an initial US$50 million investment into Lumitron, with the right to increase its investment to US$100 million during the 2026 calendar year. The funding will support the commercial scale-up and deployment of the company’s HyperVIEW™ Very High Energy Electron (VHEE) beam and advanced X-ray technology platforms across cancer care, healthcare, mining and industrial applications.

The investment positions Hancock Prospecting as a strategic investor as Lumitron accelerates toward global commercialization. As part of the agreement, Hancock Prospecting has nominated a representative to the Lumitron board to support collaboration and commercialization initiatives across priority markets.

Hancock has two members on the technical review committee, including Dr. Glenn Rice, a biophysics and oncology drug-development expert (former COO and President of Pharmacyclics; Stanford Research Institute; and Genentech). And Hancock Prospecting is particularly pleased to have secured the right to bring three of these advanced systems to Australia. These will be the first three of such vitally important and massively improved cancer detection and treatment systems to come to Australia.

Rice stated, “Lumitron has developed HyperVIEW™, a world-first platform of imaging systems and electron beam radiotherapy machines designed to deliver ultra-high-resolution X-ray imaging and VHEE beam radiotherapy capability within a compact architecture, deployable in existing clinical environments.

“Lumitron represents the first fundamental change in clinical radiotherapy in 70 years, and the first fundamental change in clinical and industrial X-ray radiography in 130 years.”

Lumitron hardware and clinical capability

Rice explained further, “built on patented laser-Compton physics originally developed at the world-renowned Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, HyperVIEW™ is designed to deliver capabilities traditionally associated with large-scale research infrastructure in a compact system suitable for broader clinical and industrial deployment.”

“Recent peer-reviewed studies have identified HyperVIEW™ as the world’s highest-resolution commercial compact mono-energetic X-ray imaging machines. Depending on the hardware configuration, the technology can deliver between 100 and 1000 times greater imaging resolution than conventionally produced X-ray systems, with up to 100 times lower radiation dose than existing technologies.”

“This higher resolution will improve early cancer detection and the precision of treatment. Its VHEE beam radiotherapy capability has been developed to deliver highly localized radiation treatment in less than a heartbeat, whilst reducing damage to healthy tissue.”

“The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Device Designation to Lumitron’s HyperVIEW™ breast cancer imaging technology. Studies published in the peer-reviewed journal Medical Physics demonstrated clinically significant (breast compression-free) imaging performance improvements of more than 3000 per cent across breast cancer imaging metrics compared with leading clinical systems from leading OEMs.”

“Additional peer-reviewed research published in Frontiers in Physics demonstrated new records in laser-Compton X-ray output, high-resolution X-ray imaging capability, and very high energy electron (VHEE) FLASH radiotherapy capabilities achieved through the HyperVIEW™ platform,” Rice concluded.

Applications across healthcare and the mining industry

Rinehart added, “In healthcare, HyperVIEW™ has been developed for advanced medical imaging and precision radiotherapy applications designed to greatly improve the speed and accuracy of cancer detection and treatment. Hancock Prospecting’s investment will support Lumitron to develop its first commercially focused VHEE FLASH radiotherapy machine, a capability that does not currently exist for commercial use.”

Maurie Stang, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Lumitron Technologies, noted, “We greatly welcome Rinehart’s and Hancock’s participation. Hancock’s funding will enable Lumitron to produce the first commercially focused VHEE FLASH machine.”

Rinehart added, “In mining and resources applications, HyperVIEW™ is 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.”

Rice added, “In future advanced manufacturing and 3D additive manufacturing applications, HyperVIEW™ is designed to detect microscopic structural defects at scales as small as one twentieth the width of a human hair in real time, supporting quality assurance and material analysis.”

Commercialization and strategic partnerships

“Lumitron has developed unique capabilities and intellectual property in ultrafast lasers and compact accelerators. It holds exclusive commercialization rights to core intellectual property underpinning the HyperVIEW™ platform, comprising a licensed patent portfolio spanning more than 14 patent families,” Rice said.

Dr. Chris Barty, Co-Founder, Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer of Lumitron Technologies, said the company had spent nearly a decade developing proprietary hardware and manufacturing capability required to commercialize the platform.

“We have developed unique laser and accelerator hardware capable of delivering world-leading X-ray and electron beam performance from a compact platform architecture,” Barty said.

“These are capabilities that have historically not been commercially available in deployable systems and have the potential to impact medicine, industry and scientific research.”

Rinehart continued, “The company is engaged with major U.S. scientific and government research organizations, including the United States Department of Energy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), alongside academic and clinical organizations, including the University of California, Irvine and Australia’s I-MED Radiology Network. Hancock Prospecting’s investment reflects our view that Lumitron Technologies has developed an advanced technology platform with applications spanning healthcare, mining research, and advanced manufacturing. I am especially excited about the potential to help patients in Australia and overseas who are suffering from up to stage 4 cancer, after the equipment has been approved for use in Australia. Which I sincerely hope will not be delayed.”

Leadership commentary

Stang said the investment marks a major milestone in the company’s transition to commercial deployment.

“This investment represents a significant step for Lumitron as Hancock Prospecting joins our sophisticated investor base supporting the company’s transition from advanced development into commercial scale-up.”

“Hancock Prospecting is one of the world’s leading private mining and investment companies, with a long history of backing large-scale, globally significant projects, and its chairman, Gina Rinehart has a long term keen interest in helping patients suffering from cancer, so we are extremely pleased to have Mrs. Rinehart and her private company, on board as a strategic investor, and as a board member, and also adding 2 members to our technical committee.”

“We believe HyperVIEW™ represents one of the most significant advances in commercial X-ray and radiotherapy technology in more than a century, providing a new generation of imaging and therapy platforms.”

“Capabilities traditionally associated with large-scale research infrastructure are now being developed in a platform designed for broader clinical and industrial deployment.”

“We see substantial long-term opportunities across healthcare, mining, and advanced manufacturing applications as demand increases for more precise imaging, treatment, analysis and assay capability,” Mr. Stang said.

Professor Ian Plimer, who is also joining the technical review committee, noted, “Over many years, Mrs. Rinehart has actively supported patient care packages, breast cancer patient services, research initiatives and awareness campaigns, and led world-first initiatives including pink mining trucks, pink trains, pink mining equipment, pink whims plants, pink PPE and even some pink ships, to help raise awareness and support for those impacted by breast cancer and its associated cancers.”

“Indeed, it was Mrs. Rinehart who established Australia’s first dedicated breast cancer foundation and our nation’s first National Breast Cancer Day in the early 1990s.”

“We believe HyperVIEW™ represents a potentially generational advancement in imaging and radiotherapy capability, with the potential to support earlier detection, more precise treatment and better patient outcomes.”

“At the same time, we see very exciting opportunities for the technology across mining, manufacturing and scientific research, particularly as industries increasingly look for more advanced imaging, analysis and assay capabilities.”

“This investment will support and ensure the future rollout of advanced imaging and radiotherapy capability across Australia,” Prof Plimer concluded.

Click here or visit https://www.lumitronxrays.com/single-post/hancock-prospecting-backs-lumitron-to-advance-cance-therapy-tech to read full press release on the Lumitron Technologies website.

 

UC Irvine’s Dr. Zhongping Chen Receives Academic Senate’s Distinguished Senior Faculty Award for Research

The UC Irvine Academic Senate has named Dr. Zhongping Chen, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and the Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, as a 2026-27 recipient of the Distinguished Senior Faculty Award for Research – one of the division’s highest honors. Selected by the Committee on Scholarly Honors and Awards, the recognition celebrates faculty members whose scholarship has left a defining mark on their field.

Established in 1975, the Distinguished Senior Faculty Award for Research is reserved for Academic Senate members who have made extraordinary contributions to their discipline, whether through a sustained, career-long record of scholarship or through a singular, influential body of work. Recipients are nominated by their colleagues, making the honor a particularly meaningful reflection of peer recognition.

Dr. Chen, Director of the UC Irvine Functional OCT Laboratory, has spent decades reshaping the landscape of biomedical imaging. He is widely recognized for his seminal role in developing optical coherence tomography (OCT), including advanced forms such as Doppler OCT and OCT angiography (OCTA). These technologies that have become indispensable in both research and clinical medicine. His innovations have enabled earlier and more precise diagnosis of serious conditions including glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and various cancers. By seamlessly integrating fundamental science, technological development, and clinical translation, Dr. Chen’s work has generated far-reaching impact across disciplines, from neuroscience to interventional cardiology.

Since joining Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic in 1996, Dr. Chen has built a record of international distinction. Among his many accolades is the 2024 Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award from Optica, and he holds fellowship status in Optica, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE). His prolific output spans more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and over 25 patents.

Dr. Chen will deliver the Distinguished Faculty Lecture at the 2026-27 Distinguished Faculty Awards Event in Winter 2027, where all honorees will be formally recognized. The ceremony will conclude with a reception celebrating their achievements.

Click here or visit https://bli.uci.edu/zhongpingchen to learn more about Dr. Zhongping Chen.

Click here or visit senate.uci.edu/distinguished-faculty-awards to learn more about the UC Irvine Academic Senate Distinguished Faculty Awards.

 

Lumitron Featured as Plenary Lecture at OPIC 2026

Lumitron Featured as Plenary Lecture at OPIC 2026

On April 22, Lumitron’s co-founder and CTO, Dr. Chris Barty, presented one of three plenary lectures at this years Optics and Photonics International Congress (OPIC) in Yokohama, Japan.  OPIC and the associated Optics and Photonics International Exhibition (OPIE) brings together several thousand attendees annually spanning virtually all optics and photonics related industries and science.  Dr. Barty’s lecture introduced the core, patented, accelerator and laser technologies which enable HyperVIEW to x-ray image with micrometer-scale resolution and to electron-beam treat cancer in a fraction of a heartbeat.

https://www.lumitronxrays.com/single-post/lumitron-featured-as-plenary-lecture-at-opic-2026

Click here  or visit  https://www.lumitronxrays.com/single-post/lumitron-featured-as-plenary-lecture-at-opic-2026 to watch Dr. Barty’s presentation on the Lumitron Technologies website.

 

 

Gina Rinehart Invests $50 Million in Lumitron Technologies for High-Resolution Imaging in Mining and Cancer Detection

June 25, 2026 at 7:03 AM GMT-7

Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, is putting $50 million into Lumitron Technologies, a firm based in California, to bring to market a high-resolution imaging system that can be used for both mineral processing and detecting cancer. The funding, announced on June 25, 2026, aims to commercialize Lumitron’s HyperView very high-energy electron beam technology, which the company says offers up to 1,000 times the resolution of traditional X-ray systems. This imaging technology, designed for medical and industrial use, can help mining operations determine mineral composition, spot contaminants, and enable more selective processing of higher-grade ore. Rinehart noted that the system allows operators to focus on higher-value ore, boosting recovery rates while possibly cutting energy use and overall processing expenses.

Click here or visit https://www.indexbox.io/blog/gina-rinehart-invests-50-million-in-lumitron-technologies-for-high-resolution-imaging-in-mining-and-cancer-detection/ to read the full IndexBox announcement.

 

 

Hancock Prospecting invests in Lumitron’s HyperVIEW VHEE beam, advanced X-ray tech platform

Posted on 25 Jun 2026

Hancock Prospecting has provided an initial $50 million investment into Lumitron, with the right to increase its investment to $100 million during the 2026 calendar year, to support the commercial scale-up and deployment of the HyperVIEW™ Very High Energy Electron (VHEE) beam and advanced X-ray technology platforms across applications such as mining.

As part of the agreement, Hancock Prospecting has nominated a representative to the Lumitron board to support collaboration and commercialisation initiatives across priority markets.

Hancock has two members on the technical review committee, including Dr. Glenn Rice, a biophysics and oncology drug-development expert (former COO and President of Pharmacyclics; Stanford Research Institute; and Genentech). And Hancock Prospecting is particularly pleased to have secured the right to bring three of these advanced systems to Australia. These will be the first three of such vitally important and massively improved cancer detection and treatment systems to come to Australia.

Dr. Rice stated: “Lumitron has developed HyperVIEW, a world-first platform of imaging systems and electron beam radiotherapy machines designed to deliver ultra-high-resolution X-ray imaging and VHEE beam radiotherapy capability within a compact architecture, deployable in existing clinical environments.

“Lumitron represents the first fundamental change in clinical radiotherapy in 70 years, and the first fundamental change in clinical and industrial X-ray radiography in 130 years.”

He explained further: “Built on patented laser-Compton physics originally developed at the world-renowned Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, HyperVIEW is designed to deliver capabilities traditionally associated with large-scale research infrastructure in a compact system suitable for broader clinical and industrial deployment. Recent peer-reviewed studies have identified HyperVIEW as the world’s highest-resolution commercial compact mono-energetic X-ray imaging machines. Depending on the hardware configuration, the technology can deliver between 100 and 1,000 times greater imaging resolution than conventionally produced X-ray systems, with up to 100 times lower radiation dose than existing technologies.

“This higher resolution will improve early cancer detection and the precision of treatment.

Hancock Executive Chairman, Gina Rinehart, added: “In healthcare, HyperVIEW has been developed for advanced medical imaging and precision radiotherapy applications designed to greatly improve the speed and accuracy of cancer detection and treatment. Hancock Prospecting’s investment will support Lumitron to develop its first commercially focused VHEE FLASH radiotherapy machine, a capability that does not currently exist for commercial use.”

She added: “In mining and resources applications, HyperVIEW is 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.”

Dr. Rice said in future advanced manufacturing and 3D additive manufacturing applications, HyperVIEW is designed to detect microscopic structural defects at scales as small as one twentieth the width of a human hair in real time, supporting quality assurance and material analysis.

He added: “Lumitron has developed unique capabilities and intellectual property in ultrafast lasers and compact accelerators. It holds exclusive commercialization rights to core intellectual property underpinning the HyperVIEW platform, comprising a licensed patent portfolio spanning more than 14 patent families.”

Rinehart said the company is engaged with major US scientific and government research organizations, including the United States Department of Energy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), alongside academic and clinical organizations, including the University of California, Irvine and Australia’s I-MED Radiology Network.

Click here or visit https://im-mining.com/2026/06/25/hancock-prospecting-invests-in-lumitrons-hyperview-vhee-beam-advanced-x-ray-tech-platform/ to read full International Mining article.

 

Hancock Prospecting invests US$50M in Lumitron Technologies

Written by Liezl Gambe Published Jun 25, 2026, 3:46 PM

  • Hancock Prospecting has completed a US$50 million strategic investment in the US-based Lumitron Technologies.
  • The investment supports the commercial development of an imaging technology with applications in medicine and mining processing.
  • Hancock Prospecting holds the right to increase its total investment to US$100 million by the end of 2026.

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has executed an agreement to invest US$50 million in California-based Lumitron Technologies to support the development of its Hyperview imaging system.

The funding allows the private mining company to diversify its portfolio into advanced technology, following its recent investments into artificial intelligence over the past 12 months.

“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,” said Hancock Prospecting Executive Chairman Rinehart.

The transaction provides for three Hyperview machines to be deployed in Australia, while also granting Hancock Prospecting a seat on the board of Lumitron Technologies.

The Hyperview system uses a high-energy laser light source to collide electrons and generate high-resolution X-rays that Lumitron Technologies stated could improve early cancer detection.

The technology also has applications in the iron ore sector, where it is designed to go beyond conventional systems to analyse the mineral composition of ore.

Click here  or visit grafa.com/en/news/australia/hancock-prospecting-invests-us-50m-in-lumitron-technologies to read the full article on grafa.com.

Rinehart invests $50M in X-ray tech for ore

Cecilia Jamasmie | June 25, 2026 | 4:15 am Markets Australia USA Iron Ore Rare Earths

Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart is backing California-based Lumitron Technologies with a $50 million investment to commercialize high-resolution imaging technology used to improve ore processing and cancer detection.

The investment will help commercialize Lumitron’s HyperView very high-energy electron beam technology, which the company says delivers up to 1,000 times the resolution of conventional X-ray systems.

Lumitron’s imaging technology for medical and industrial applications can be used in mining to identify mineral composition, detect contaminants and help operators selectively process higher-grade

“The technology enables mining operators to selectively process higher-value ore, thereby improving recovery rates while potentially reducing energy consumption and overall processing costs,” Rinehart said.

The investment could double to $100 million later this year, according to Lumitron, with Hancock Prospecting also gaining board representation. The deal deepens Rinehart’s push into technologies supporting the critical minerals sector while reflecting her longstanding commitment to breast cancer initiatives following the death of her mother, Hope Rinehart, from the disease.

Strategic expansion

The move follows Hancock Prospecting’s acquisition of a $1 billion stake in Elon Musk’s SpaceX after its record-breaking initial public offering earlier this month. Rinehart also owns a direct stake in Tesla valued at about $6.6 million and recently increased Hancock’s investment in Arafura Rare Earths (ASX: ARU).

Her portfolio already includes major positions in rare earths producers, including MP Materials (NYSE: MP), Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) and Brazilian Rare Earths (ASX: BRE), underscoring Hancock’s strategy of expanding beyond iron ore into critical minerals and related technologies.

As executive chair of Hancock Iron Ore, created through last year’s merger of Roy Hill and Atlas Iron, Rinehart has introduced pink haul trucks, mining equipment and personal protective equipment across operations to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer initiatives.

Click here or visit  https://www.mining.com/rinehart-invests-50m-in-x-ray-tech-for-ore-cancer/ to read full article on mining.com.