April 24 (Reuters) - Australian miner Fortescue announced further spending on green energy on Friday, as it seeks to insulate itself from global oil market volatility, while keeping its full-year total
shipment forecast unchanged.
The world's fourth-largest iron ore producer is banking on plans to cut fossil fuels from its operations faster than rivals to give it an edge as miners globally face inflationary pressures from war in the Middle East.
"We're getting on with decarbonising our operations and we’re already seeing the benefits," said Fortescue Metals and Operations Chief Executive Officer Dino Otranto.
"We’re fundamentally reshaping how we power our operations by cutting our reliance on fossil fuels, at a time when energy supply is increasingly uncertain."
Fortescue said it is investing $680 million to develop new green energy infrastructure in Pilbara, building on a previous commitment to expedite the rollout of an off-grid green energy system to eliminate fossil fuels.
Fortescue shipped 48.4 million metric tons of iron ore in the three months ended on March 31, narrowly missing a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 48.6 million tons but higher than the 46.1 million tons reported a year earlier.
The Perth-headquartered miner kept its fiscal 2026 forecast of 195 million to 205 million tons unchanged but lowered Iron Bridge shipments guidance to 9 million to 10 million tons on a 100% basis, compared to an earlier estimate of 10 million to 12 million tons.
Shipments from Fortescue's Iron Bridge project in Western Australia rose 33.3% to 2 million tons in the third quarter, but production and shipments were cut by weather disruptions related to Tropical Cyclones Mitchell and Narelle during the period.
The miner also flagged rising costs. The hematite operations shipped 46.4 million tons in the quarter versus 44.6 million tons last year, with C1 unit cost rising more than 4% to $18.29 per wet metric ton.
Fortescue warned that a $10 per barrel variation in Brent crude oil prices can swing its hematite iron ore C1 unit cost by about $0.20 per wet metric ton, assuming all other factors remain constant.
(Reporting by Sneha Kumar and Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Vijay Kishore, Maju Samuel and Tom Hogue)
