Fortescue Metals Group
Encyclopedia
Fortescue Metals Group is an Australian
iron ore mining company. The company has holdings of more than 87,000 km² in the Pilbara region of Western Australia
making it the largest tenement holder in the state. It is listed as FMG on the Australian Securities Exchange
(ASX).
In 2008, the group loaded its first iron ore shipment bound for China. Fortescue have at least 10 Chinese steel mill contracts lasting for around 10 years. Baosteel was the first company to receive their iron ore.
; the Chichester Hub and Solomon Hub, with plans for the third Western Hub being developed. The company holds over 87,000km² of tenements in the region, larger than both BHP Billiton
and Rio Tinto
.
and the second minesite Christmas Creek
. Together, the two minesites currently produce 55 million tonnes per annum and will ramp up to a combined 155 million tonnes per annum when the planned expansion is completed.
currently mines and processes over 110,000 tonnes each day. 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
removal is done 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 desand 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 2.7 kilometre long trains ready for the journey along the 256 kilometre heavy haul railway to the facilities at Herb Elliott Port.
, 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the east of Cloudbreak
, in May 2009. Currently more than two million tonnes of ore is mined at Christmas Creek each quarter and trucked to Cloudbreak for processing.
The operations at Christmas Creek are undergoing expansion and in late 2010 a 50 kilometres (31 mi) extension to the existing Port Hedland to Cloudbreak rail line was completed to transport the ore to Cloudbreak.
A new ore processing facility was also constructed at Christmas Creek with wet commissioning scheduled for March 2011. Work is also underway on construction of a 800 bed permanent operations village to house the growing Christmas Creek workforce.
FMG lodged applications for three mining leases in the Solomon Hub area in 2008, and began negotiations with the native title holders through the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC). Negotiations broke down and the YAC lodged its opposition to the grant of the three licenses to the Native Title Tribunal in 2009, initially failing to win orders preventing the grant of the licenses. The YAC also failed in its initial Federal Court
appeal of that decision last year, and the State Government issued the mining licenses to FMG in late November 2010. Both FMG and the YAC are now waiting on the results of a new appeal to the Full Bench of the Federal Court.
On the 8th of April 2011, prominent National law firm Slater & Gordon, representing the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation in its negotiations with FMG, issued a statement calling on "Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) to deliver fair and just compensation to the Yindjibarndi community in Western Australia, as negotiations over native title access rights breakdown. FMG has been accused of supporting a splinter group to divide the local Yindjibarndi community during negotiations for access to traditional Yinjibarndi land for the planned $8.5 billion Solomon Hub project, in the Pilbara region." Slater and Gordon claimed that “While FMG has put money on the table for compensation, this pales into comparison to the profits that will be made from this mine on our client's traditional land, and it pales into comparison to royalty amounts that have been paid to non-Aboriginal people. Our clients are not being unreasonable in their claim with FMG. Together with our clients, Slater & Gordon are in this for the long fight. It’s about time that Australia hears about what’s happening in the Pilbara. Attempts to try and wedge the local community will not deliver a good result for anyone involved.”
Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation has uploaded a video of a March 2011 meeting conducted by FMG to point out concerns they have with the meeting. The meeting was an attempt by FMG to strike a deal with a "breakaway" group.
upheld an appeal by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission finding that Fortescue Metals Group Limited (FMG) and its Chairman and CEO, Andrew Forrest, engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and breached the continuous disclosure provisions in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Fortescue is appealing against the decision.
and a new port at Point Anderson (aka Herb Elliott port) near Port Hedland. The Fortescue rail line has a flyover over the Mt Newman Railway, and a crossing of the BHP Billiton railway. The "first ore on ship" on the line occurred in May 2008, 3.5 years after construction started.
The railway's 220-wagon iron ore trains are amongst the heaviest trains
in the world, The (standard gauge
) heavy haul railway is used by 35200 t (34,644 LT; 38,801 ST) trains up to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) long carrying 29000 t (28,542 LT; 31,967 ST) of ore at 40 t (39 LT; 44 ST) axleload (the weight of the two 4000 hp 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 over 100 kilometres (62 mi). Fortescue had sought access to use this line, but BHP declined. The matter remains in litigation.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
iron ore mining company. The company has holdings of more than 87,000 km² in the Pilbara region of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
making it the largest tenement holder in the state. It is listed as FMG on the Australian Securities Exchange
Australian Securities Exchange
The Australian Securities Exchange was created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in July 2006. It is the primary stock exchange group in Australia....
(ASX).
In 2008, the group loaded its first iron ore shipment bound for China. Fortescue have at least 10 Chinese steel mill contracts lasting for around 10 years. Baosteel was the first company to receive their iron ore.
Mining projects
Fortescue is the fourth largest Iron ore producer in the world as of March 2011. The group has two main areas of operation in the Pilbara region of Western AustraliaWestern Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
; the Chichester Hub and Solomon Hub, with plans for the third Western Hub being developed. The company holds over 87,000km² of tenements in the region, larger than both BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
and Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto
- Businesses :* Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne* Rio Tinto Alcan, a Canadian aluminum mining and production company headquartered in Montreal-Portugal:...
.
Chichester Hub
Located in the heart of the Pilbara, the Chichester Hub is made up of Fortescue’s flagship minesite CloudbreakCloud Break mine
The Cloudbreak mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 89 kilometres west-south-west of Nullagine, in the Chichester Range....
and the second minesite Christmas Creek
Christmas Creek mine
The Christmas Creek mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 61 kilometres south-south-west of Nullagine, in the Chichester Range....
. Together, the two minesites currently produce 55 million tonnes per annum and will ramp up to a combined 155 million tonnes per annum when the planned expansion is completed.
Cloudbreak
Fortescue’s first minesite CloudbreakCloud Break mine
The Cloudbreak mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 89 kilometres west-south-west of Nullagine, in the Chichester Range....
currently mines and processes over 110,000 tonnes each day. 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
Overburden
Overburden is the material that lies above an area of economic or scientific interest in mining and archaeology; most commonly the rock, soil, and ecosystem that lies above a coal seam or ore body. It is also known as 'waste' or 'spoil'...
removal is done 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
Mechanical screening
Mechanical screening, often just called screening, is the practice of taking granulated ore material and separating it into multiple grades by particle size....
, crushing and desand 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 2.7 kilometre long trains ready for the journey along the 256 kilometre heavy haul railway to the facilities at Herb Elliott Port.
Christmas Creek
Mining began at Christmas CreekChristmas Creek mine
The Christmas Creek mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 61 kilometres south-south-west of Nullagine, in the Chichester Range....
, 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the east of Cloudbreak
Cloud Break mine
The Cloudbreak mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 89 kilometres west-south-west of Nullagine, in the Chichester Range....
, in May 2009. Currently more than two million tonnes of ore is mined at Christmas Creek each quarter and trucked to Cloudbreak for processing.
The operations at Christmas Creek are undergoing expansion and in late 2010 a 50 kilometres (31 mi) extension to the existing Port Hedland to Cloudbreak rail line was completed to transport the ore to Cloudbreak.
A new ore processing facility was also constructed at Christmas Creek with wet commissioning scheduled for March 2011. Work is also underway on construction of a 800 bed permanent operations village to house the growing Christmas Creek workforce.
Solomon Hub
Centrally located in the middle of Fortescue’s 87,000km² Pilbara tenement area, the Solomon Hub is 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 2.86 billion tonnes of resource at the Solomon Hub and there are identified exploration prospects targeting up to five billion tonnes. A detailed feasibility study outlining plans for the Solomon Hub will be delivered late 2011. Developing the Solomon Hub is part of Fortescue's plan to reach a target of 155 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in 2013 and the "Three Hubs, Two Ports" strategy involving building the new Anketell Port.FMG lodged applications for three mining leases in the Solomon Hub area in 2008, and began negotiations with the native title holders through the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC). Negotiations broke down and the YAC lodged its opposition to the grant of the three licenses to the Native Title Tribunal in 2009, initially failing to win orders preventing the grant of the licenses. The YAC also failed in its initial Federal Court
Federal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law , along with some summary criminal matters. Cases are heard at first instance by single Judges...
appeal of that decision last year, and the State Government issued the mining licenses to FMG in late November 2010. Both FMG and the YAC are now waiting on the results of a new appeal to the Full Bench of the Federal Court.
On the 8th of April 2011, prominent National law firm Slater & Gordon, representing the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation in its negotiations with FMG, issued a statement calling on "Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) to deliver fair and just compensation to the Yindjibarndi community in Western Australia, as negotiations over native title access rights breakdown. FMG has been accused of supporting a splinter group to divide the local Yindjibarndi community during negotiations for access to traditional Yinjibarndi land for the planned $8.5 billion Solomon Hub project, in the Pilbara region." Slater and Gordon claimed that “While FMG has put money on the table for compensation, this pales into comparison to the profits that will be made from this mine on our client's traditional land, and it pales into comparison to royalty amounts that have been paid to non-Aboriginal people. Our clients are not being unreasonable in their claim with FMG. Together with our clients, Slater & Gordon are in this for the long fight. It’s about time that Australia hears about what’s happening in the Pilbara. Attempts to try and wedge the local community will not deliver a good result for anyone involved.”
Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation has uploaded a video of a March 2011 meeting conducted by FMG to point out concerns they have with the meeting. The meeting was an attempt by FMG to strike a deal with a "breakaway" group.
ASIC legal action
On 18 February 2011 the Federal Court of AustraliaFederal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law , along with some summary criminal matters. Cases are heard at first instance by single Judges...
upheld an appeal by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission finding that Fortescue Metals Group Limited (FMG) and its Chairman and CEO, Andrew Forrest, engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and breached the continuous disclosure provisions in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Fortescue is appealing against the decision.
Infrastructure
The company has built a mine, a 260 kilometres (162 mi) private railwayFortescue railway
The Fortescue Railway, owned and operated by the Fortescue Metals Group , is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for the purpose of carrying iron ore. It is the only railway line the group operates in the Pilbara, having opened in 2008...
and a new port at Point Anderson (aka Herb Elliott port) near Port Hedland. The Fortescue rail line has a flyover over the Mt Newman Railway, and a crossing of the BHP Billiton railway. The "first ore on ship" on the line occurred in May 2008, 3.5 years after construction started.
The railway's 220-wagon iron ore trains are amongst the heaviest trains
Heaviest trains
The heaviest trains in the world are freight trains hauling bulk commodities such as coal and iron ore. One might distinguish between regular operations, and occasional record breaking runs...
in the world, The (standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
) heavy haul railway is used by 35200 t (34,644 LT; 38,801 ST) trains up to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) long carrying 29000 t (28,542 LT; 31,967 ST) of ore at 40 t (39 LT; 44 ST) axleload (the weight of the two 4000 hp 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 over 100 kilometres (62 mi). Fortescue had sought access to use this line, but BHP declined. The matter remains in litigation.