IRON MINES AND MINING – WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Green issues curb Hancock project target

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 9-Oct-24

Documents filed with the Western Australian government show that Gina Rinehart has significantly scaled back the size of her proposed Mulga Downs iron ore project. The Mulga Downs mine was initially slated to produce 20 million tonnes of iron ore each year, but this has been reduced to 12 million tonnes. The amount of vegetation to be cleared at site has also been reduced from 8,422 hectares to just 4,339 hectares. Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has a 95 per cent stake in the subsidiary that is developing Mulga Downs.

CORPORATES
HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD

Fortescue eyes $50m carbon free kick

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 8-Oct-24

The federal government has indicated that companies will be able to start trading its Safety Mechanism Credits from early 2025. The new carbon credit scheme will reward companies with one SMC for every extra tonne of carbon they cease emitting beyond their designated target. Given that Fortescue has a goal of achieving ‘real zero’ emissions across its iron ore mines by the end of this decade, it could be in line to earn about 1.4 million SMCs in 2030. Analysts suggest that Fortescue could gain additional revenue of between $50m and $150m by selling these credits to other emitters. However, chairman Andrew Forrest has been a vocal critic of carbon offsets in the past.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE LIMITED – ASX FMG

Fortescue insists spying on families wasn’t inappropriate

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Original article by Angelica Snowden
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 21-Aug-24

Fortescue is being represented by Julian Cooke SC in its intellectual property dispute with ‘green iron’ start-up Element Zero. The company was founded by former Fortescue employees Bart Kolodziejczyk, Bjorn Winther-Jensen and Michael Masterman, allegedly using the iron ore miner’s intellectual property. Cooke has defenced Fortescue’s use of a private investigator to place the three executives and their families under surveillance, telling the Federal Court that there was a real risk that information pertaining to the pending court case could have been destroyed. The surveillance operation was followed by raids on the homes and business premises of the Element Zero directors

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE LIMITED – ASX FMG, ELEMENT ZERO PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Fortescue ‘portrayed former execs as dishonest’, court told

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Original article by Angelica Snowden
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 20-Aug-24

Element Zero is seeking to have search orders awarded to Fortescue in May by Federal Court judge Melissa Perry thrown out; Parry granted the orders on the back of allegations that former Fortescue executives who are now directors of Element Zero had stolen Fortescue’s intellectual property. In trying to convince Federal Court judge Brigitte Markovic that the orders granted by Parry should be thrown out, the Element Zero directors told the court on Monday that Fortescue had sought to portray them as ‘shady actors’ who were seeking to steal its ‘green iron secrets’ so as to justify its request for the orders, which saw it raid their homes and offices.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE LIMITED – ASX FMG, ELEMENT ZERO PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

MinRes job cuts add to thousands lost in WA’s mining sector route

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 7-Aug-24

A spokesman for Mineral Resources has confirmed that the iron ore and lithium producer will reduce its head count, although the bulk of the job cuts will be at its Perth head office. Mineral Resources has not disclosed the extent of the job losses, although it is believed to be about 100. The move follows the company’s recent decision to mothball its high-cost iron ore mines in Western Australia’s Yilgarn region and a delay in the expansion of the Wodgina lithium mine. WA’s mining sector has already been hit by massive job losses in the nickel industry in 2024.

CORPORATES
MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MIN

New iron ore mine to start producing in 2025

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Original article by Tim Bond
Australian Resources & Investment – Page: Online : 30-Jul-24

Fenix Resources is in the process of launching its third iron ore mine in Western Australia’s mid-west, with the Beebyn-W11 mine due to commence production in early 2025. Located 20 km from Fenix’s existing Iron Ridge mine and just over 500 km from the Geraldton Port, Beebyn-W11 has a maiden ore reserve of 10 million tonnes at 62.2 per cent iron. It will have an estimated mine life of seven years and slated annual production of around 1.5 million dry metric tonnes, with Fenix forecasting annual EBITDA of $47.9 million.

CORPORATES
FENIX RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX FEX

Rinehart boosts stake in $5b WA magnetite project

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 17-Jul-24

Hancock Prospecting has increased its stake in the Mt Bevan magnetite project in Western Australia’s Yilgarn region by 21 per cent. The Gina Rinehart-controlled company now has a 51 per cent stake in Mt Bevan, which is expected to boast annual production of 12 million tonnes of magnetite with an iron content of 70 per cent. A spokesman for Hancock says there is no certainty that the project will proceed, citing factors such as the federal government approvals process. The other shareholders in Mt Bevan are Legacy Iron Ore and Hawthorn Resources.

CORPORATES
HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, LEGACY IRON ORE LIMITED – ASX LCY, HAWTHORN RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX HAW

Microwave the way for Rio Tinto to go low-carbon

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 5-Jun-24

Rio Tinto will invest $215m in a microwave facility at its BioIron project in Western Australia. The plant is slated to produce one tonne of direct reduced iron per hour, and is part of the resources group’s push to reduce the carbon-intensity of steel-making. The BioIron plant will use microwave technology rather than traditional blast furnaces to produce steel, using a combination of Pilbara iron ore and biomass waste. Rio Tinto executive Simon Trott says the plant has been specifically designed for Pilbara iron ores.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Rio investigates third derailment of one of its driverless iron ore trains

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 14-May-24

Rio Tinto has notified rail safety authorities of an incident in which an autonomous iron ore train was derailed about 80km from Karratha early on Monday morning. It is believed to have occurred when the driverless train collided with a set of stationary wagons while it was enroute to port with a shipment of iron ore. Rio Tinto will also commence an internal investigation into the incident. Rio Tinto’s driverless trains have now been derailed three times in the last year. The company began operating autonomous trains in the Pilbara in 2019.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Fortescue confident on export guidance

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 16 : 25-Apr-24

Pure-play iron ore miner Fortescue has advised that its shipments from the Pilbara totalled 43.3 million tonnes in the March quarter. This was 11 per cent lower than the December quarter and down six per cent year-on-year. The lower export volumes have been attributed to the impact of a haulage train derailment during the quarter. Fortescue has conceded that full-year shipments are likely to be at the lower end of its guidance of 192-197 million tonnes. Fortescue shipped just 138.5 million tonnes in the first half of 2023-24, which will require it to ship 53.5 million tonnes in the final quarter. Meanwhile, Fortescue has further downgraded its forecast for shipments from the Iron Bridge magnetite project.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE LIMITED – ASX FMG