In a major step towards transitioning its diesel mining fleet to a green mining fleet before 2030, Fortescue Metals Group has announced a partnership with multi-national equipment manufacturer Liebherr.
Fortescue said the two parties will work on the development and supply of green mining haul trucks for integration with the zero emission power system technologies being developed by Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE).
“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 company said in a statement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Fortescue will purchase a fleet of 120 haul trucks from Liebherr, increasing its haul truck fleet by almost 40%. In FY21, truck hauling utilized almost 200 million gallons of diesel, accounting for 26% of Fortescue’s Scope 1 emissions.
The phased supply of haul trucks is expected to begin after a two-year cooperative development period to enable the development and integration of Fortescue’s proprietary-owned power system into Liebherr’s proprietary-owned base truck.
Liebherr will supply Fortescue with mining haul trucks in both battery and fuel cell electric truck configurations, depending on the company’s needs.
Fortescue Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Gaines said 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.
“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,” she 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.”
Fortescue acquired WAE, an offshoot of the Williams F1 Team, earlier this year.
“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,” Ms Gaines continued.
“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.”
