Fortescue has booked a $2.7 billion profit due to record iron ore sales, helping its founding family to a tidy $690m dividend.
Fortescue has booked a $2.7 billion profit due to record iron ore sales, helping its founding family to a tidy $690 million dividend.
The Pilbara miner on Wednesday revealed iron ore sales for the first half of the financial year had climbed above 100 million tonnes, and that the price received for those rocks remained strong at about US$91/tonne.
Revenue climbed 10 percent to US$8.4bn and profit jumped 23 per cent to US$1.9bn.
The operational cost to get the miner’s iron ore to port was reduced to US$18.64/tonne.
Fortescue metals and operations chief executive Dino Otranto hailed decarbonisation for pushing the miner’s costs lower.
“We have the lowest operating cost in the industry, and decarbonisation is pushing that even lower,” he said.
“By removing diesel across our operations, we’re structurally improving our cost position.
“The more diesel we eliminate, the less exposure we have to price volatility, and the stronger and more predictable our margins become.”
Fortescue welcomed its first two battery-electric locomotives to the Pilbara in February, is installing about 3,600 solar panels per day, and has started groundwork for its first wind farm.
Fortescue declared a fully franked 62c interim dividend, up 12c from this time last year.
Andrew and Nicola Forrests’ Tattarang’s clip of the dividend will come close to $700m.
Outside of decarbonisation the miner’s two key future-facing projects are its Belinga iron ore mine in Gabon and Alta Copper in Peru, which Fortescue bought for $151m last year.
Fortescue growth and energy chief executive Gus Pichot said finalisation of that deal was imminent.
“Subject to completion, our immediate focus will be on technical reviews, community engagement and advancing the studies required to inform future development decisions,” he said.
“In Gabon, our teams have also further advanced studies at the Belinga Iron Ore Project, and are progressing plans for an integrated mine, rail and port development.”
Fortescue hopes to be shipping iron ore from Gabon by 2030.
The miner’s shares were up 3.5 per cent to $20.90 at start of trade on Wednesday.
