Fortescue has delivered a strong start to the 2025–26 financial year (FY26), achieving record first quarter shipments of nearly 50 million tonnes (Mt) of iron ore – up four per cent year-on-year.
This included 2.1Mt from the Iron Bridge magnetite operation.
The company has optimised its hematite life-of-mine plan to incorporate its newly acquired Blacksmith project, located around 234km southwest of Port Hedland in Western Australia, and is anticipated to deliver significant value by maintaining lower unit costs.
“The (hematite life-of-mine) plan optimises material movement and orebody use, ensuring Fortescue remains positioned as a low-cost, capital-efficient operator, maximising value across our operations,” Fortescue metals and operations chief executive officer (CEO) Dino Otranto said.
The amount of ore mined across all operations was 60.1Mt – up around five per cent compared to the year prior – and processed ore was 50.8Mt. For hematite specifically, shipments were 47.6Mt while ore mined was 50.9Mt.
Fortescue also outlined the release of its 2025 climate transition plan and its continued deployment of decarbonisation technology, with 10 electric excavators now in operation and the 190 megawatt (MW) Cloudbreak solar farm now more than one-third complete.
Decarbonisation partnerships were also announced in the quarter, helping the company deliver on real net zero targets set for 2030.
From a financial position, Fortescue posted a cash balance of $US4.6 billion and a net debt of $US1.9 billion.
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