Rinehart picked up the major award in the Asian Mining Awards, which closed Mines and Money Hong Kong.

It comes as the $A10 billion Roy Hill iron ore project reaches the final phases of construction.

“All the naysayers are having a field day, but leaving that aside, Roy Hill is an important project for Australia,” Rinehart said.

She said the project’s “dynamic schedule” of first ore on ship by September would be met.

“If only we could do something about that falling iron ore price – but we can’t,” she said.

Rinehart again called for the government to “come to the party” and cut “horrific regulations” in response to weaker commodity prices.

Otherwise she warned Australia would face tough times ahead.

“It should be obvious that onerous government regulation should be urgently and significantly reduced,” Rinehart said.

Rinehart spoke of the challenges in the early days of Roy Hill when the company didn’t have enough money to keep the former BHP tenements.

“Pity all of the money the media said I inherited from my father’s estate didn’t fall from the sky,” she said.

Roy Hill also won the Asian Corporate Development Award, which long-time Hancock executive Tad Watroba accepted.

“I know many of you have trepidation about the iron ore price, but projects like this are here for a generation,” he said.

Metals X Peter Cook paid tribute to his team after being named as CEO of the Year.

Asian Large-Cap Deal went to Aquila Resources for the timing of its takeover by Baosteel, which was accepted by Cannings Purple managing director Warrick Hazeldine who spoke on behalf of his client, Aquila founder Tony Poli.

Northern Star Resources bagged the Asian Exploration Award, which was collected by MiningNews.net in the company’s absence.

Asian Exploration Deal went to Red River Resources, while the Asian Mid-Cap Deal of the Year went to ICVL/Steel Authority of India.