The corporate watchdog says it has denied an application from Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting for relief from lodging its company accounts and says Hancock Prospecting is now taking its application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

“In late 2011 Hancock Prospecting, and related entities applied to ASIC for relief from having to lodge financial reports, including company accounts, for a range of periods, as required by Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act,” the regulator says in a statement.

“This decision is now subject to an application for review before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.”

ASIC says it does not intend to make further public comment.

Established in 1955 by the late Lang Hancock, Hancock Prospecting is a privately owned company that holds the rights to the world’s largest iron ore deposit in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.