At this time last year, when Fortescue's share price had fallen as low as $1.03, Forrest's holding in the company was worth approximately $1 billion. It formed the lion's share of FORBES' estimate of his wealth in last year's list of Australia's richest: $1.24 billion. It's a very different story today, with Fortescue's share price up to $4.37, enough to add at least $3 billion to Forrest's fortune and lift him from last year's ranking of No. Today the share price is around $2, lifting the value of Mende's stake eightfold to $228 million and Kundrun's by a similar level to $248 million. Deutsche Bank echoed the UBS comment, noting that 2016 had been "a turnaround year for the mining sector.

Source: Forbes January 16, 2017 22:00 UTC