Gina Rinehart moves into milk exports to China Gina Rinehart: Miner, media mogul... dairy farmer? WITH construction of her massive Roy Hill iron ore mine past the halfway mark, Gina Rinehart has turned her attention towards another highly lucrative commodity: milk. Ms Rinehart's Hope Dairies is looking to spend around $500 million on 5,000 hectares of Queensland farmland to create what's tipped to be one of the country's biggest dairy farms. The plan is to produce baby formula and UHT milk to meet rising demand for dairy products in China. Once up and running, the farm is expected to produce an estimated 30,000 tonnes of infant formula a year, all of it for Chinese consumption. "Gina Rinehart has had a lifelong association with the agriculture industry and she has teamed up with a great deal of expertise in Queensland to build another export industry with huge potential for Australia," a spokesman for Ms Rinehart said. Ms Rinehart, who is Australia's richest person with an estimated $US15.5 billion ($A16.77 billion) fortune, is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Queensland government and the project's Chinese partners in Brisbane this weekend. University of New South Wales economist Tim Harcourt said the move into dairy would allow Ms Rinehart, who made her fortune largely on the back of Chinese demand for iron ore, to reap the benefits of the next China boom. "There is huge demand for dairy in China," he said. This will allow Gina to move her business from the mining boom to the dining boom when it comes to China. Chinese dairy imports have exploded in recent years as the country's population becomes more affluent and looks for safer, higher quality food products than have previously been available domestically. Food safety has been a big issue in China in the wake of the 2008 melamine milk scandal, in which more than 300,000 children fell sick and at least six died after consuming baby formula containing the industrial chemical. The scandal sparked huge demand for organic and imported food, especially dairy products, which has been a huge boon for producers like New Zealand milk giant Fonterra. Ms Rinehart isn't the only mining billionaire looking to take advantage of the food boom; Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest earlier this year bought Western Australia's only licensed beef exporter to China. Chinese businesses have also moved to secure Australian food production, including property developer Shanghai Zhongfu which paid $700 million in 2012 to lease more than 13,000 hectares of land in WA for sugar production. The move into dairy comes as Ms Rinehart's $10 billion Roy Hill iron ore mine moves closer to production. Construction of the Pilbara mine recently passed the halfway mark and is expected to ship its first iron ore next year. Roy Hill is expected to produce 55 million tonnes of iron ore a year once fully operational. Originally published as Gina the Dairy Queen