FMG launches higher grade iron ore
FORTESCUE Metals Group (FMG) will wave off its first two shipments of higher grade 60.1 per cent West Pilbara Fines iron ore in December to customers in China.
The new product is a higher iron, low alumina ore blended from its Firetail mine and the western pits at its Cloudbreak mine in the Pilbara.
FMG said it planned to ship between 5 and 10 million tonnes of the WPF product in FY19, which will grow to 40mtpa once its Eliwana mine enters production in December 2020.
At a recent media and investor tour, FMG took visitors to its port, rail and Chichester Hub operations to view the West Pilbara Fines stockpiles.
“We’re expecting a couple of shipments in December, both into China to established large steel mill customers,” FMG chief operating officer Greg Lilleyman said at a media briefing.
The introduction of West Pilbara Fines came at an opportune time for the company, which had experienced wider-than-normal discounts in recent years for its lower grade 58 per cent iron ore.
However, the miner remained confident the gap between prices received for lower and higher grade ore was beginning to narrow.
FMG chief executive Elizabeth Gaines said the new product would enable FMG to offer a more flexible product mix.
“Innovation in process and design is a key component of Fortescue’s strategy to efficiently and effectively deliver products from mine to market and the introduction of West Pilbara Fines will further enhance the range of ores available for our customers,” Ms Gaines said.
“Fortescue’s wholly owned, integrated mining operations and infrastructure, together with our innovative processing and blending strategy, provides us the flexibility to deliver West Pilbara Fines before full scale production begins on completion of the Eliwana development.”
The investor and media tour also highlighted FMG’s advances in automation across its operations.
The miner was currently converting its existing fleet of haul trucks with Caterpillar’s ‘ Cat Command’ autonomous haulage technology.
“The 789D is the 35th manned truck to be converted to autonomous at Christmas Creek, demonstrating our progress to becoming the only iron ore operation in the world to have a fully autonomous haulage fleet,” Ms Gaines said.