IRON MINES AND MINING – WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Debelle steps down as Fortescue CFO in latest reshuffle

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 & 18 : 24-Nov-22

Fortescue Metals Group has appointed Felicity Gooding as the interim chief financial officer at its clean energy subsidiary, Fortescue Futures Industries. This follows Guy Debelle’s decision to step down as CFO; he took up the role in March following his retirement from the Reserve Bank of Australia, where he had been the deputy governor. Debelle is still recovering from injuries sustained in a bike accident in August, and says this means he cannot do justice to the role of CFO. He will instead join FFI’s board of directors.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, FORTESCUE FUTURE INDUSTRIES PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Forrest’s Fortescue joins rare earth race

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 16 : 23-Nov-22

Fortescue Metals Group’s executive chairman Andrew Forrest has told its AGM that the company aims to expand into critical minerals. He said Fortescue has "kicked off a global stream of work" in South America aimed at securing access to critical minerals such as rare earths. He added that rare earths will be critical to Fortescue Future Industries’ projects in manufacturing, renewables and hydrogen. Forrest also said that Fortescue is close to gaining a preliminary mining licence for the Belinga iron ore project in Gabon, and that it plans to commence drilling early in 2023.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, FORTESCUE FUTURE INDUSTRIES PTY LTD

Fortescue exports up, prices down

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 13 & 17 : 28-Oct-22

Fortescue Metals Group has advised that its Pilbara iron ore shipments totalled 47.5 million tonnes in the September quarter, four per cent higher than the previous corresponding period. Fortescue expects full-year shipments for 2022-23 to be within the range of 187 million to 192 million tonnes. Meanwhile, the iron ore miner’s average cash production costs rose 16 per cent year-on-year, to $US17.69 a tonne. Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest says rising fuel prices was the major contributor to the higher production costs during the period. Meanwhile, the average price Fortescue received for its iron ore fell to $US87.43 per dry metric tonne.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG

Rio enlists Wrights to unlock phenomenal iron ore play

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Original article by Peter Ker, Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 24 : 19-Oct-22

Rio Tinto hopes to commence production at the Rhodes Ridge iron ore deposit in the East Pilbara by 2030 after reaching agreement with Wright Prospecting to modernise their joint venture arrangement. The original agreement was signed in 1972, and Rhodes Ridge has been the subject of a long-running legal dispute between the descendants of Pilbara iron ore pioneers Peter Wright and Lang Hancock. Rio Tinto’s head of iron ore Simon Trott notes that most of the ore grade at Rhodes Ridge is above the benchmark level of 62 per cent iron content. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto has advised that it shipped 82.9 million tonnes of iron ore in the September quarter.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, WRIGHT PROSPECTING PTY LTD

Traditional owners compare FMG damage to Juukan Gorge

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 12-Oct-22

Fortescue Metals Group faces a compensation claim from the Yindjibarndi people over the construction of its Solomon iron ore hub in the Pilbara. The compensation claim is based on a Federal Court ruling that part of the Solomon hub was built without the permission of the traditional owners. Fortescue has been accused of destroying sacred and significant sites, and the Yindjibarndi’s compensation claim will be based on factors such as cultural loss, pain and suffering, and economic loss. The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation has likened the cultural significance of the traditional owners’ losses to Rio Tinto’s destruction of ancient Indigenous rock shelters at Juukan Gorge.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, YINDJIBARNDI ABORIGINAL CORPORATION, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

BHP outlines path to iron ore growth

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 15 : 4-Oct-22

BHP’s long-term goal is to increase its iron ore shipments from the Pilbara to 330 million tonnes a year. However, BHP’s head of iron ore Brandon Craig has conceded that the resources group will not be in a position to achieve this run rate until the late 2020s. Doing so will also require it to develop at least one new iron ore mine and upgrade its rail and port facilities. Craig adds that BHP’s priority in the near-term is to increase the quality of its Pilbara ore to at least 67 per cent.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

Rio bid to iron out problems with revival in the Pilbara

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 22-Jun-22

Rio Tinto officially opened its new Gudai-Darri iron ore mine in the Pilbara on Tuesday. The mine will reduce Rio Tinto’s average costs in the Pilbara and improve the average grade of its iron ore shipments. Rio Tinto’s head of iron ore Simon Trott says Gudai-Darri will help the resources group to reclaim its title of the best iron ore operator in the Pilbara. Rio Tinto’s iron ore shipments from the Pilbara fell to 321.6 million tonnes in 2021, having peaked at 338.1 million tonnes in 2018; its cash costs of production have also risen sharply since then. Gudai-Darri will have annual production capacity of 43 million tonnes, which could potentially be expanded to 70 million tonnes.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Fortescue signs deal for green haul trucks fleet

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 13 & 17 : 16-Jun-22

Fortescue Metals Group has struck a deal to buy 120 battery and hydrogen-powered haulage trucks for its iron ore mines in the Pilbara. The new clean energy fleet will replace about 45 per cent of the diesel-fuelled trucks at Fortescue’s mines. Sweden-based Liebherr will begin delivering the new vehicles from 2025. Fortescue’s current fleet of haulage trucks are estimated to account for about 26 per cent of its scope one and two emissions. Fortescue has a net-zero emissions target of 2030 for its Pilbara operations.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, LIEBHERR AG

$800m overshoot on new Rio Tinto mine

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 16-Jun-22

Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri iron ore mine in the Pilbara had been slated to cost $US2.6bn when it was commissioned in late 2018. However, the resources group has advised that the final cost of the project will be $US3.1bn. Factors such as skilled labour shortages in Western Australia during the pandemic contributed to the cost blowout. However, competition for labour in the Pilbara was rising prior to the pandemic, with BHP and Fortescue Metals Group also approving new iron ore projects at around the same time that Rio Tinto announced that Gudai-Darri would go ahead. One consolidation for the big three miners is that the iron ore price is still significantly higher than in 2018.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG

Fortescue plans huge wind and solar farm

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 18 : 10-Feb-22

Fortescue Metals Group’s clean energy arm has revealed plans to build a wind and solar energy farm to provide renewable energy for the Eliwana iron ore mine in the Pilbara. The proposed renewable energy hub will be partially built on the Uaroo pastoral station, which is owned by a subsidiary of Andrew Forrest’s private investment arm, Tattarang. Fortescue Future Industries plans to commence work on the project as soon as it receives environmental approval from the Western Australian government.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE FUTURE INDUSTRIES PTY LTD, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, TATTARANG PTY LTD