A resources magnate endorsed abandoning commodities produced from ancient organic matter.
Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) recently approved transitioning away from “big fat honking” diesel engines at all mine sites.
The plan involves completely decarbonising all mineral operations through replacing heavy petroleum fractions with zero-carbon electric drivetrains.
The proponent has already ordered 120 haul trucks from Liebherr that will be customised to accept battery-powered engines.
“We want to buy trucks without drive trains, can we put the drive trains in, we know how to do it and they [Caterpillar and Komatsu] said no, so we just went to Liebherr who were delighted,” FMG founding chairman Andrew Forrest said at an investor and analyst phone conference.
“120 trucks ordered in one hit is a big order. That gives you the confidence that we know how to build the drive trains, how to install them, how to commission them and get those trucks offloading with zero emissions.”
The company will also introduce battery powered trains that store kinetic energy and use regenerative braking during downhill parts of the journey between mine and port.
“The Williams Advanced Engineering combination with FMG rail and Fortescue Future Industries has produced battery prototypes, which provide more than sufficient energy to send that train back up the hill without the 37,000 tonnes of iron ore on its back with parabolic energy cap systems – the braking system,” Forrest said.
“Trains spend most of their time braking. Even though it is some 500km away from the coast they are going downhill and that sends the train back up the hill, so we have zero external use of energy and therefore zero emissions.”
However, FMG has no immediate plans to phase out liquefied natural gas.
“We see a role for gas fired power stations as emergency back-up, in case for the necessity for a black start or anything like that. It is not wasted capital, it gives us a very solid ‘plan b’ but our ‘plan a’ is to switch off all the intakes of fossil fuel into the Fortescue Metals Group,” Forrest said.
“If you ask us we see accelerating fossil fuel costs. This is an environment where your highest risk is to do nothing.”
He claims these changes will make FMG the world’s first heavy industry company to implement a fully costed decarbonisation strategy, eliminate fossil fuel use, and achieve “real” zero emissions before 2030.
Transitioning away from fossil fuels could cost the proponent up to US$6.2 billion (A$9.2B). If the business successfully reduces annual operating costs by US$818 million (A$1.2B), AMR predicts it could achieve a return on investment in less than eight years.
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