It is a serious climb to the top of the Fortescue Metal Group’s wet ore processing facilities, which stand 60 metres off the ground, deep in the belly of the miner’s Christmas Creek operation in the Pilbara.
But it’s well worth getting to the top of either of the two giant steel structures, where the ore is separated from the waste to deliver a higher quality iron for Chinese steel mills. From here you get one of the best views in Western Australia’s Pilbara.
But these tangled webs of steel known as the wet OPFs – short for ore processing facility – are much more than just glorified viewing platforms.
An overhaul of the OPFs is one of the single biggest contributors to the miner’s impressive cost reductions in recent months that have left the company and the market – led by chairman Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest – more confident than ever that it can withstand future ore price shocks.
…No wonder Forrest told the company’s annual meeting earlier this month that prices were likely to head in to the $US40s per tonne, but that Fortescue could withstand this.
The reporter travelled to Christmas Creek courtesy of Fortescue Metals Group.
Can it survive $20? No. Then it’s big machines will be resold for scrap soon enough.
