A new partnership will see Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue) decarbonise its mobile fleet, with the development and supply of green mining haul trucks to support its net-zero emissions goal.
The green trucks mark a transition away from Fortescue’s diesel mining fleet and will be manufactured with zero emission power system technologies which are being developed by Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE).
Under the partnership, Fortescue will purchase a fleet of 120 haul trucks from multi-national equipment manufacturer Liebherr, with delivery aligned to its fleet replacement and sustaining capital expenditure forecast. The commitment represents approximately 45 per cent of the current haul truck fleet at Fortescue’s operations.
Truck haulage consumed approximately 200 million litres of diesel in FY21 and accounted for 26 per cent of Fortescue’s Scope 1 emissions.
The phased supply of haul trucks is anticipated to commence following a two-year joint development period enabling the development and integration of Fortescue’s proprietary-owned power system into Liebherr’s proprietary-owned base truck. Liebherr will supply mining haul trucks to Fortescue in both battery electric truck and fuel cell electric truck configurations, in accordance with Fortescue’s requirements.
The agreement will advance the decarbonisation of Fortescue’s mobile fleet through this partnership with one of the world’s leading manufacturers of mining equipment.
Utilising WAE’s unique proprietary technology and expertise in high-performance battery systems, the partnership secures a pathway for Fortescue to become a zero emission power system supplier to a tier one original equipment manufacturer and accelerates technology commercialisation.
The first of the zero emission haul units will be fully operational within Fortescue mine sites by 2025, with the further aim of having the units available for commercial sale from that time.
Fortescue Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Gaines, said the partnership was an important step for the company’s net zero goals and would establish new business opportunities.
“The signing of this contract with Liebherr marks a significant step in the delivery of our industry leading decarbonisation target to achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030,” Ms Gaines said.
“We strongly believe that enhancing technology is key to addressing climate change and we are investing in renewables and new decarbonisation technologies to transform our mining fleet to run on green renewable energy.
“This agreement builds on the considerable value already created through Fortescue’s acquisition of WAE and demonstrates the significant long-term opportunity for Fortescue to commercialise green power system technologies to the broader heavy duty mobility market.
“We look forward to working with Liebherr and WAE to develop and deploy some of the world’s first zero emission large mining haul trucks in our operations, while also establishing an important new business growth opportunity for Fortescue as we diversify to become an integrated green energy and resources company.”
President of the Administrative Board of Liebherr-International, Dr. h. c. Willi Liebherr, said the partnership will unite Liebherr’s industry leading equipment and technology with Fortescue’s green technology expertise.
Fortescue Chairman and Founder, Dr Andrew Forrest, said through the strengthening of economics in the business, the company is creating products designed for a zero pollution future.
“Every day our Fortescue and FFI family take forward the technology, hard work, and willpower of going green, the world mining industry takes one step closer to being the first globally leading industry to go fully green,” Dr Forrest said.
