Forrest strikes $4 billion deal for electric trucks and dozers to eliminate fossil fuels at giant mines

Iron ore billionaire and green energy evangelist Andrew Forrest has struck a $4 billion deal that will see hundreds of giant electric trucks, excavators and dozers installed at its huge iron ore mines to help eliminate the burning of fossil fuels.

Forrest has set a target of reaching “real zero” terrestial emissions for the Pilbara iron ore operations of Fortescue Metals, and he wants to achieve that by 2030. The deal announced overnight with Leibherr – the biggest in that company’s history – will take a big step towards that goal.

The $US2.8 billion ($A4 billion) agreement with Liebherr includes the purchase of 360 autonomous battery electric haul trucks – the T264, some 55 electric excavators, and 60 new battery electric dozers under development, the PR 776.

The 240 tonne haul trucks and the dozers will use electric power and propulsion systems developed by Fortescue, and Fortescue will also supply the hundreds of giant batteries needed for the machines.

“This is an important next step in our 2030 Real Zero target – to eliminate emissions from our Australian iron ore operations by the end of the decade,” Forrest said in a statement after the announcement at a mining expo in Las Vegas.

“The world needs Real Zero now – it simply cannot afford to wait. The green solutions we need are here today, and Fortescue Zero is supplying them and rolling them out across our massive mining operations.”

Fortescue’s targets are way more ambitious than its mining peers, such as BHP and Rio Tinto, even though they are also trialling electric haul trucks and other equipment. But Forrest, who opposes the use of offsets as “greenwashing”, says the industry must move more quickly.

“We invite all companies in the mining, heavy industry and haulage sectors to join us. The solutions are there, and the missing ingredient is leadership,” he said.

“The time of others persuading you that greenwashing is a better return to shareholders and your community is over. Fortescue invites you to join us. We can together be the trailblazers who forge the world’s move away from fossil fuels.”

Interestingly, the deal drew an admiring comment from Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm, who had been discussing it with senior Fortescue executives while in the US.

“This is a significant partnership for the global mining industry and I congratulate the Fortescue team for taking this bold step to decarbonize their mining fleet,” he said in a LinkedIn post. (See note at end of story).

All the major iron ore miners – Fortescue, Rio Tinto and BHP, but notably not Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill – are also committed to switching their electricity supplies at their respective Pilbara mines away from gas and diesel, and replace them with wind, solar and storage.

The mining companies are working with the state government and local utilities to also redraw the Pilbara electricity network away from feudal-style individual grids towards a common network that allows them to share resources.

The announcement came on the same day that Fortescue also announced an agreement to develop battery electric trains with Australia’s Downer, which will eliminate emissions on the lengthy routes from mines to port.

Fortescue has already been partnering with Liebherr to trial both battery and hydrogen haul trucks at its Pilbara mines, as well as introducing its first electric excavators, which have proved hugely successful in boosting efficiency and eliminating emissions.

The new deal will see Fortescue operate 360 of the giant T 264 battery electric haul trucks, triple the number that was envisaged when the first partnership between the two companies was announced in 2022. Most of the trucks will arrive with battery electric systems in place, although some will be retrofitted. Four are already on site.

Fortescue says it has also developed the fast charging solution which can provide up to 6 MW of power and charge the current battery-electric T 264 in just 30 minutes. It will also supply the batteries.

“We have more than 200 autonomous trucks across our mine sites, travelling the equivalent of two trips to the moon and back each month,” said Dino Otranto, the CEO of Fortescue Metals.

“It is imperative that they operate efficiently and at maximum capacity. We have used our strong track record of being a first mover in autonomy and our technological know-how to derisk zero emission fleets to enable the industry to break free from the pilots and prototypes.”

He said the fully integrated Automatic Haulage Solution will also be a game changer for the company in reducing carbon emissions.

The 55 R 9400 E electric excavators – three are already in operation at Fortescue mines – will be a mix of backhoe and face shovel configurations.

The two companies will work on integrating Fortescue’s battery power system into Liebherr’s flagship mining dozer, the PR 776.

Dr Jörg Lukowski, the head of sales and marketing at Liebherr-Mining Equipment said the technology developed as part of the deal will help other customers decarbonise and allow it to offer completely fossil fuel free hauling, loading and dozing solutions by the end of the decade.

“In fact, in the coming years, Liebherr and Fortescue Zero will be able to offer more customers within the industry a proven, large scale zero emission mining ecosystem,” he said.

Note: An earlier version of this story included a quote from Rio Tinto CEO, but this was later retracted by the Fortescue media team.