Rio, BHP and Fortescue at electrification crossroads
Fortescue Metals principal of build and test Gavin Selth says that in motorsport, everyone talks about making it on to the grid.
The theory is that if you’re not on the grid, you’re not in the race. Selth is a former project manager at Williams Advanced Engineering, an offshoot of the Williams F1 racing team.
A driverless haul truck at work at Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri iron ore mine.
Fortescue gobbled up Williams Advanced, based in Oxfordshire in the UK, last year as part of the green ambitions of chairman Andrew Forrest.
Now Selth is out at Fortescue’s Christmas Creek mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara, where the temperature nudged 40C last week, trying to adapt some of the technology applied in racing electric cars in Formula E to moving big tonnages of iron ore using haul trucks.
Fortescue wants its mining operation emissions-free by 2030. Bigger iron ore rivals Rio Tinto and BHP are advancing, but not going as fast or spending as much money. Rio is aiming for a 15 per cent reduction by 2025 and a 50 per cent reduction by 2030. BHP is targeting a 30 per cent reduction by 2030.
Fortescue will spend $US6.2 billion ($9.8 billion) decarbonising its iron ore operations; Rio has estimated it will cost about $US3 billion to halve emissions from its Pilbara mines by the end of the decade. BHP has flagged $US1.6 billion spending between 2023-24 and fiscal 2030 to hit its iron ore decarbonisation target.
All three are relying on renewable energy to replace the gas and diesel that currently power their mining, rail and port operations, but making slow progress on the vast solar and wind farms that will be required.
Fortescue chief executive Dino Otranto says the electric haul trucks being developed by Fortescue are something
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