There is an old saying that the first generation builds the business, the second grows it and the third loses it. The matter of succession hit a flashpoint briefly in 2008 when Gina Rinehart almost died after a common medical procedure resulted in an infection, which spread out of control and kept her in intensive care for more than a week. The brush with death made her ponder the future of Hancock Prospecting at a time when the business was going from strength to strength. Gina expressed her concerns about the next generation most pointedly in a radio interview she gave a few months after the brush with death: