Born To Disrupt
For decades, Western Australia’s iron ore industry was controlled by two global giants. In 2003, our Founder and Executive Chairman, Dr Andrew Forrest, set out to prove there was room for a third.
What started as a small team with a big ambition became one of the great growth stories in Australian business. In Perth, pitching to investors, Dr Forrest played a video of a surfer riding a towering wave. That wave, he said, was the surge of opportunity driven by China’s rapid economic growth and rising global demand for iron ore.
“This is Fortescue,” he said, pointing to the surfer. “Either you’re on it, or you’re going to get wiped out by it.”
Sceptics were everywhere.
We got to work.
By 2008, we had built two Pilbara mines (Cloudbreak and Christmas Creek) along with our first fully integrated mine, rail and port operation. That same year, our first loaded train made the journey from Cloudbreak to Herb Elliott Port in Port Hedland.
Many said it would never happen. It did.
That moment became part of Fortescue folklore. One fund manager claimed the railway between Cloudbreak and Port Hedland would never be built, saying he would happily be “chained to the tracks” because no train would ever run there.
Inside Fortescue, it inspired the now famous “Flatten a Banker” poster.
TEN YEARS ON
Within a decade, we had exported our billionth tonne.
And we did not slow down.
Today, our operations have an annual production capacity of around 200 million tonnes.
The proof
Since then, we have been building the technology, partnerships and capability to make that commitment real.
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We established a world-leading Climate Transition Plan to achieve Real Zero, independently reviewed and built for delivery.
What began as Williams Advanced Engineering continues as Fortescue Zero. Same engineering pedigree. Bigger mission. Driving zero-emissions technology solutions.
Our Green Pioneer sailed the world to prove dual-fuel ammonia-powered shipping is possible.
In the Pilbara, we are building a large-scale fully integrated renewable energy system. That means less fossil fuel reliance. More renewable power. And faster electrification of mining equipment and operations.
We are growing our global portfolio across metals, critical minerals, energy and technology. Disciplined growth that creates long-term value and helps drive down emissions in steelmaking and heavy industry.
Powering the future. Now.
We proved the doubters wrong once. We are doing it again.
Showing that heavy industry can decarbonise at speed, that it can be done at scale, and that it can be done profitably.
This is the next wave of opportunity. And the people who act now will shape it.