Fortescue ready to settle traditional owner dispute

On Monday, the first cargo of magnetite from its Iron Bridge project was loaded in Port Hedland, but the project is now not expected to reach full capacity until mid-2025.

Hick, who joined Fortescue from Woodside less than a year ago, said Iron Bridge – which uses an energy-intensive method to process low-grade ore into magnetite containing 67 per cent iron – was the company’s most complex project yet.

Fortescue’s hydrogen-focussed energy arm has its own project challenges after chief executive Mark Hutchinson in January targeted making five final investment decisions this year.

Hutchinson said a project in Arizona to supply 12,000 tonnes a year of green hydrogen for trucks bought just a week ago for $US24 million ($35 million) could be the first to go ahead.

Another contender is possible green ammonia production at Incitec Pivot’s Gibson Island plant near Brisbane, with detailed design on track and negotiations for renewable energy supply, electrical connection and water supply under way.

“We’re on track to do five by the end of the year,” Hutchinson said.

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CSLA analyst Robert Stein pointed out that Fortescue would need 1250 projects the size of the Arizona one to meet its aim of producing 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen a year by 2030.

Hutchinson said the first five would be “priming the pump” for expansions and new larger projects, and the target would be achieved with other investors and project financing as well as Fortescue cash.

“There is a wall of money out there waiting for projects,” he said.