Fortescue is a global metal mining and energy company headquartered in Australia. The company focused on iron ore mining under the name of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) until July 2023, when it merged with Fortescue Energy. , Fortescue was the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the world. The company has holdings of more than in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, making it the largest tenement holder in the state, larger than both BHP and Rio Tinto.
Governance , Andrew Forrest was executive chairman and owns a third of the company. Dino Otranto is the CEO of Fortescue's Metals division (Aug 2023–), and Agustín Pichot is the CEO of the Global Growth & Energy division.
Former chief executive Elizabeth Gaines became global brand ambassador in 2022.
Mining projects The group has two main areas of operation located within the Pilbara region of Western Australia, the Chichester Hub and Solomon Hub. Plans to develop a third, Western Hub were as of 2017 in developmental stage. In 2017 Fortescue started exploration of possible mining tenements in South America and other parts of Australia.
Fortescue has built of very heavily engineered railway lines to transport the products of its mines to port.
Chichester Hub Located in the heart of the Pilbara, the Chichester Hub is made up of Fortescue's flagship minesite Cloudbreak and the second minesite Christmas Creek. , the total Chichester Hub produced 90 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of iron ore plus an additional five mtpa from a joint venture with BC Iron.
Cloudbreak Fortescue's first minesite, Cloudbreak, in 2013 mined 40 million tonnes of iron ore a year. The horizontal nature of the deposits at Cloudbreak called for a new mining approach to those used at other mines, which operate on vertical deposits of ore. Overburden is removed using conventional blast, truck and shovel methods while specially designed surface miners cut and load the ore into trucks for transport to the run of mine stockpiles. Screening, crushing and de-sand plants at the Cloudbreak ore processing facility prepare and refine the product before the ore is stockpiled ahead of transport to port. The train loadout facility at Cloudbreak is capable of feeding 16,000 tonnes of ore per hour on the trains ready for the journey along the heavy-haul railway to the facilities at Herb Elliott Port.
Christmas Creek Mining began at Christmas Creek, to the east of Cloudbreak, in 2009. Subsequent expansion projects have lifted production capacity to 50 million tonnes per annum. The operations at Christmas Creek are undergoing expansion and in late 2010 a fifty-kilometre extension to the existing Port Hedland to Cloudbreak rail line was completed to transport the ore to Cloudbreak. The first ore-processing facility (OPF) was commissioned at Christmas Creek in April 2011 with a second OPF commissioned in 2012. As part of the second expansion, a number of additional infrastructure projects were completed, including a overland conveyor, a new airstrip, an expansion of the power plant and increasing capacity at the operations village to 1600 rooms.
In 2013, Fortescue awarded Macmahon Holdings a $1.8 billion mining services contract for its Christmas Creek mine expansion. The Christmas Creek expansion increases the capacity of the Chichester operations to 95 million tons a year, and was a key component of the company's 155-million-tonne-a-year expansion plans.
Solomon Hub
Located in the middle of Fortescue's Pilbara tenement area, the Solomon Hub was Fortescue's next major project. It has almost twice the resource and less than half the strip ratio of the Chichester Hub. Fortescue's Exploration team has already delineated more than of resource at the Solomon Hub and there are identified exploration prospects targeting up to . In May 2013, Fortescue officially opened its 20-million-tonne-per-annum (mtpa) Firetail mine at Solomon. In December 2013, the company announced it had achieved first production from its 40 mtpa Kings Valley mine.
The train load out (TLO) facility at Firetail was commissioned in November 2012 and the first ore was transported on the Fortescue Hamersley Rail Line in December 2012. In December 2012 Fortescue opened the Solomon Railway that connects Solomon to Fortescue's mainline to its port operations.
A third operation within the Solomon hub, the Queens Valley mine, was approved for construction in 2019 at a projected cost of A$417 million. The mine, located 15 km west of the Kings Valley mine, is scheduled to open in 2022.
On 12 May 2026, Justice Stephen Burley delivered a landmark decision in Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC v State of Western Australia (No 2) FCA 585, awarding approximately $150 million for cultural loss and around $100,000 for economic loss for Fortescue's impacts at the Solomon Hub, making it the largest native title compensation award in Australian history. The Court found that significant cultural and spiritual harm had occurred as a result of mining activities, including the destruction or disturbance of numerous heritage sites and impacts on Yindjibarndi connection to Ngurra (Country).
Eliwana mine
In May 2018 Fortescue announced a US$1.28 billion development of a new mine in the Pilbara at the Eliwana site. This expansion will include an additional 143 km of railway and a dry ore processing plant capable of processing 30 million tonnes a year. The new mine is expected to have an 18-year lifespan and will be funded from the company's cash flow.
The project is expected create 1900 construction jobs and 500 permanent full-time positions with production expected to commence in 2020. The Eliwana mine is part of Fortescue's strategy to move to a 60 per cent iron-grade product.
Iron Bridge mine The Iron Bridge mine, located 145 kilometres south of Port Hedland, opened in 2023, sending slurry with 0.028 mm grains by pipeline 135 km to Port Hedland. The mine is projected to produce 22 million tonnes of high-grade 67% magnetite per annum by 2026. The project is a joint venture between Fortescue and Formosa Steel, with Baosteel as a minority share holder.
BC Iron BC Iron is a much smaller mining company with iron ore deposits at Nullagine. In 2009, the two companies entered into a 50-50 joint venture in which BC Iron manages mining, crushing and screening, and trucking while Fortescue is contracted to provide haulage and port services to the joint venture.Australian Financial Review 25 July 2012, p26 In December 2012 Fortescue sold a 25% stake to BC Iron Ore for A$190 million and agreed to increase the available capacity to the NJV on Fortescue's rail and port infrastructure from the existing 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), to 6 mtpa for the life of the joint venture.
Atlas Iron In June 2018 Fortescue announced the purchase of 15% of junior iron ore miner Atlas Iron. This brought Fortescue's ownership stakes up to nearly 20%. The acquisition of a controlling interest in Atlas Iron was planned to give Fortescue access to greater port capacity as well as additional higher-grade iron ore tenements. This also potentially allowed a move towards lithium production.
This move was also potentially giving Fortescue access to the North West Infrastructure joint venture. This venture was a collaboration between Atlas Iron, Brockman Mining and FerrAus.
In October 2018, however, Atlas was acquired by Redstone Resources, a fully owned subsidiary of Hancock Prospecting, and delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange on 21 November 2018.
Belinga, Gabon In February 2023 Fortescue Metals Group inked in an agreement to develop iron ore at Belinga in north-eastern Gabon with a road and railway to an existing port of Owendo. The initial quantity of ore to be exported is 2 million tonnes of ore per year.Belinga iron ore
Diversifying production Gold, copper and lithium In 2017 Fortescue announced they were looking to diversify their portfolio by exploring for metals and minerals in South America and other parts of Australia. Gold, copper and lithium were highlighted as commodities of interest.We continue to undertake early-stage, low-cost exploration on copper gold prospective tenements in South Australia and New South Wales and have assessed high-potential, early-stage exploration tenements in Ecuador, where Fortescue was granted 32 exploration areas.
Infrastructure
The company has built a mine, a private railway and a new port at Point Anderson (also known as Herb Elliot Port) near Port Hedland. The Fortescue rail line has a flyover over the Mount Newman railway, and a crossing of the BHP Billiton railway. The "first ore on ship" on the line occurred in May 2008, three-and-a-half years after construction started.
The railway's 240-wagon iron ore trains are among the heaviest trains in the world. The (standard-gauge) heavy-haul railway is used by trains up to long carrying of ore at a axle load (the weight of the two engines is extra). The railway is available to other miners for a fee. Atlas Exports has signed a commercial agreement to use the line and port.
The railway parallels another iron ore railway, the BHP Billiton railway, for more than . Fortescue had sought access to use this line, but BHP declined.
The FMG railway uses contemporary technology, electronically controlled pneumatic brakes, for all its rolling stock.
Shipping fleet
Fortescue had an operating fleet of seven ore carriers with an eighth currently in construction. Four of the carriers were built by the Yangzijiang shipyard in Jiangsu, China. The rest of the fleet is being built by Guangzhou Shipyard International.
The current operating fleet is:
FMG Nicola FMG Grace FMG Sophia FMG Sydney FMG Matilda FMG David FMG Amanda – Arrived in Port Hedland in June 2018. Named after Amanda Bennell, a long-term Aboriginal employee with Fortescue.
Fortescue Energy In 2020, Fortescue Future Industries was created to produce energy in several countries, starting with the 60 MW solar farm at its Chichester Hub.
In October 2021, Fortescue Future Industries and Plug Power Inc. announced a joint venture to build a green hydrogen equipment manufacturing facility in Aldoga, Queensland. The first stage, due for completion in 2022, is expected to double the world's green hydrogen capacity. When the plant is completed, it is expected to be the largest of its type in the world.
Also in October 2021, Fortescue Future Industries and Incitec Pivot announced a feasibility study for a new ammonium nitrate production plant in Brisbane. The plant would use PEM electrolysers to generate hydrogen to produce ammonium nitrate, mainly used as fertiliser and as a component in explosives, replacing the conventional manufacturing process which uses natural gas.
In November 2021 it was announced that Fortescue Future Industries would build a plant in Río Negro Province, Argentina, that initially in 2024 would produce 600 MW of green hydrogen a year, rising to 15 GW by 2030.
In March 2022, Fortescue Future Industries acquired UK-based Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), now rebranded as Fortescue Zero. As part of this acquisition, Fortescue and WAE will jointly develop the world first, zero emission electric Infinity Train that charges itself using the Earth's gravitational force.
In July 2023 Fortescue Metals Group and Fortescue Future Industries were combined to form Fortescue.
In September 2026, it was announced that Fortescue Zero would be acquiring the Penske Formula E Team, with the intent to begin competing in the 2026/27 Formula E World Championship, subject to approval from the FIA. They will be a customer of Jaguar, and will also be the first ever team to enter Formula E under an Australian license. Their driver lineup is yet to be confirmed. The official entry name will be Fortescue Zero Racing & Innovation Team.
Controversy Misleading and deceptive conduct court case