(Reuters) – Australian miner Fortescue posted higher third-quarter iron ore shipments on Thursday in line with analyst expectations, as output recovered from a train derailment in the same quarter a year earlier.
The iron ore producer, chaired by its billionaire founder Andrew Forrest, posted quarterly iron ore shipments of 46.1 million metric tons (mt), compared with 43.3 million mt reported a year earlier. That was largely in line with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 46.8 million mt.
The uptick in iron ore shipments comes despite Fortescue facing significant weather disruptions, including a five-day closure of the port of Port Hedland and operational constraints from Tropical Cyclone Zelia that drove a 7% quarter-on-quarter decline.
Shares of the world’s fourth-largest iron ore miner rose as much as 2.1% to a four-week high of A$15.8, outperforming a 0.3% rise in the broader mining sector. Fortescue said it continues to review the timeline for its Iron Bridge operations to reach full production capacity of 22 million mt annually, with an assessment of key processing equipment expected to be completed by June.
For its green energy division, Fortescue is reassessing development timeframes for its Arizona Project in the U.S. and its Queensland-based Gladstone PEM50 Project, with “greater clarity” on external factors affecting these projects expected by June.
The company maintained its fiscal 2025 iron ore shipments guidance of 190 million-200 million mt, including 5 million-9 million mt for Iron Bridge on a 100% basis. Projected 2025 capital expenditure of $3.5-$3.8 billion also remains unchanged.
Fortescue delivered its first T 264 Power System to mining equipment manufacturer Liebherr during the quarter. The system is designed to convert diesel mining trucks to zero-emission vehicles as part of the company’s decarbonization efforts.
(Reporting by Roushni Nair and Adwitiya Srivastava in Bengaluru, Melanie Burton in Sydney; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Rashmi Aich)
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