Gina Rinehart has secured final funding for her massive Roy Hill iron ore mine in West Australia’s Pilbara region.

Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting signed a $US7.2 billion ($A7.98 billion) funding package in Singapore on Thursday with an international consortium of 19 banks, including Australia’s big four lenders.

Roy Hill chief executive Barry Fitzgerald said the funding package was the biggest of its kind in the world.

“I am advised this is the largest ever project financing for the development of a land-based mining project worldwide,” he said in a statement on Friday.

Rinehart says the $US10 billion mine, which is already under construction, will employ up to 3,600 people during construction, and a further 2,000 staff once operations start.

The mine expects to export its first iron ore in 2015 and is targeting annual production of 55 million tonnes.

Rinehart said the mine, which is 70 per cent owned by Hancock Prospecting, would “significantly benefit our West Australian and national economy”.

“We look forward to becoming a major iron ore producer on an international scale, and thank our partners for their steadfast support for this major Australian project,” she said in a statement on Friday.