Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Mona Gill, and I am Fortescue's Company Secretary, and it is an honor to be here with you all today. Before we begin, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are meeting today, the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation, and I pay my respects to elders past, present, and emerging. It is my pleasure to welcome you to Fortescue's 2026 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Before we begin with the formal proceedings, just a quick housekeeping notes for the state reception center. Restrooms are located to my left with additional facilities downstairs. This is a smoke-free venue, including e-cigarettes, and in the event of an emergency, please follow the directions of staff, and lifts are not to be used. The nearest assembly area is out the back near the main car park.
Now, as a courtesy to others, can I please ask that you switch off your mobile phones or turn them to silent mode. In today's meeting, you will hear from the CEOs, Mr. Dino Otranto and Mr. Gus Pichot, following which we will move to the formal business of the meeting. The meeting will then close with an address from your Executive Chairman, Dr. Andrew Forrest AO. I would now like to invite Trevor Stack to conduct the Welcome to Country.
How are you, sir? How are you, mate? I am all right. Good to see you. Thank you, Mona, and once again, thank you to Fortescue for allowing me to come and stand with you guys today on this country, which is Whadjuk country. I talk in terms of blessings of country, not welcomes to country. It is divisive in nature by wording. When we stand on country, it is a blessing that we stand together, and I pay respect to the countrymen on my left over here and also my nephews that stand with them. When I stand in this country, I speak in my grandmother's and grandfather's tongue. When I say [non-English content], I welcome grandmother's and grandfather's spirits to come and sit with you today on this country, which is Whadjuk country.
In the words that I speak, there are songs, there are dances, there are stories, and they live in the land and they have done for thousands and thousands of years. This one comes from where we sit today, we call Kardijinpa. This is Warnay Gaymilngana. It is a spider song. When we come together as one and we sit on country, it is a blessing. [non-English content] . That song has echoed throughout this land from this hilltop for many, many years. I am always respectful when I sing this song. Understand it is the oldest song you will probably hear, belonging to the oldest living culture in the world. Before I walk off stage, I want to pay respect to a legend that worked in this environment for many, many years. Had a battle with cancer over the last couple of years, and I mentioned this in the previous years.
Mark Tazewell lost his life on the 25th of the first this year. Very good man, a brother of mine, but he held this company very close. I just wanted to pay respect in terms of that. Once again, thank you to Fortescue for the invitation for me to come and stand with you guys. It is about paying respect, paying respect to country and paying respect to where we are and the people and the environment in it. I thank you very much.
Trevor, thank you so much for that beautiful and very respectful Welcome to Country. Please now join me in welcoming your Directors and Chief Executive Officers. On my right, Fortescue's Founder and Executive Chairman, Dr. Andrew Forrest AO, Sigrid Kaag, Dr. Larry Marshall, Usha Rao-Monari, Noel Pearson, Yifei Li, and Gus Pichot, CEO of Growth and Energy. On my left, Deputy Chairman Mark Barnaba, Penny Bingham-Hall, Lord Sebastian Coe.
Fan club of one. One for you.
Dr. Jean Baderschneider, Noel Quinn, Yasmin Broughton, and Dino Otranto, CEO of Metals and Operations. We are also joined here today by Fortescue's Group CFO, Apple Paget, together with members of your executive team. The Company's Uuditor, PwC, is also represented here today by Mr. Chris Dodd and Ms. Rachel Meadows. We will now play a short video, and after that, you will hear from the CEO of Metals and Operations, Dino Otranto.
Sitting still is not in Fortescue's DNA.
In those early days, we kicked off, and we built a port rail and mine and financed it from scratch, from where there was nothing.
For more than two decades, we've delivered some of the world's biggest scale infrastructure and mining projects, and we're not stopping there.
We sit at the center of a great industrial transformation.
Fortescue is taking a different bet.
It is not just nation leading, it is world-leading stuff as well.
We at Fortescue will prove that that's profitable.
We're not even fazed anymore about the critics.
Instead, we are showing them we will continue to deliver.
Fortescue is closing the financial year with a major milestone, its biggest iron ore export in almost two decades.
Copy, everyone. We have just ticked over 200 million tons.
Breaking shipping and production records.
It is special. Going from those early days loading the first ship to now 2.5 billion tons really shows how far we have come.
Every ton that we mine, process, rail, and ship relies on the dedication, courage, and never give up attitude of our entire Fortescue family.
From where we started, you have got to hold back tears.
We are delivering big things while also delivering for our future.
We're showing that Real Zero is entirely possible, and not only is it possible, we're showing that it's profitable.
Fortescue is cutting fossil fuels and emissions from our operations right now, and for good reasons. Cost. We can do this more efficiently than anyone else. Climate. It's good for business and good for the environment. Control. We'll dictate when, where, and how we use our energy, no longer reliant on fossil fuels and just in time.
The most severe energy crisis in history.
Every part of our sector is going to be impacted by this, and that is exactly why we at Fortescue are doing what we're doing.
That's why we have new green equipment already operating on our sites. Battery electric trains are now in motion at Fortescue.
We have the world's largest mainline electric locomotive right here in the Pilbara.
This is an electric excavator, and it's outperforming its diesel equivalents.
21 excavators alongside an electric drill and our world-leading fast charger.
We are targeting 20 to 30 minutes. The truck will come in, deliver its charge, and then it will be back out again, moving ore.
Our battery electric prototypes from XCMG are en route to the Pilbara.
These machines are the next echelon in mining.
Our first battery electric haul truck is on the way, too.
If it goes wrong, what if it works? The successes we're going to have are disruptive technologies that will change the landscape of how we mine in Australia.
To power it all, we're building one of the world's largest multi-gigawatt Green Grids. No one else in Australia is doing it this quick. 6,000 solar panels a day and some of the world's largest wind turbines that can put themselves up.
These battery energy storage systems store the energy from our solar and wind farms so that we can dispatch it 24 hours a day into our operations.
The world has never seen energy creation like that, ever.
We won't just use it ourselves either. We'll also power new green industries.
This has turned out to be a really seriously good investment.
That's why we're not slowing down.
Green iron is finally flowing at Fortescue's pilot plant at Christmas Creek.
We are also exploring globally to grow our business with copper in Latin America and iron ore in Gabon.
The project continues to develop really well.
Building opportunities to turn green electrons into new green industries.
When you are creating paths no one else has walked before, it might feel lonely at times.
That is why we are bringing communities and our Fortescue family with us.
We are building in all of the skills our people are going to need for that green future. Fortescue Metals Group has opened a new training center in Perth it claims will help electrify its mine sites.
For 20 years, we have trained and employed the next generation of Australian workers.
Giving over 1,600 First Nations people the opportunity to work in the mining industry.
$7.8 billion spent empowering Aboriginal businesses and opportunities while also forming new partnerships with traditional custodians.
An entire new way of thinking and running major mining operations.
We know we've got our naysayers.
Anyone who criticizes us, just wait and see. I'll call you when we're done.
Over the journey, there's been a lot of people saying that Fortescue can't do this and can't do that, but we've proven a lot of people wrong.
At Fortescue, we never shy away from a challenge, and we never ever give up.
It is in our Fortescue culture and our Fortescue DNA.
I think it's only ahead from here as well.
Wow, what a video to start us off. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for being here. As you can see, it has been a huge year for us. We shipped more ore than ever before. We have 9,000 people wearing presents from Andrew commemorating that task, with some boots custom-made to show us cracking that 200-million ton mark for the first time. We delivered an underlying EBITDA of $8.6 billion, underlying NPAT of $3.5 billion, and free cash flow of $3.2 billion. It is a strong result. It comes back to running the business well, keeping our costs down, and generating cash. That gives us the ability to invest where it makes sense, as you can see in the video, and deliver returns to you, our shareholders. For FY 2026, the dividend was $1.08.
That is a payout ratio of 65% of earnings, our eighth consecutive year of paying out a ratio of 65% or more. We keep pushing ourselves to keep doing things better, our costs down, and to continue to deliver value to all our stakeholders. Many of those are in this room. We have always set ourselves big targets. That is how Fortescue started out. We built the rail link from Cloudbreak to Port Hedland in just 17 months. Since then, it has grown to over 760 km, connecting our Pilbara to the coast. We did it again at Eliwana, delivering the mine on schedule and bringing its processing plant up to full capacity in just seven months.
We know how to build and run major projects in the Pilbara, and now we are putting all that experience into the Green Grid, connecting solar, wind, batteries, transmission, all to power our operations with renewable, low-cost energy. Energy has shaped every era of industrialization for the past 1,000 years. First came the steam engine, then the combustion process, coal, and hydrocarbons. Now, renewable energy is driving the next chapter, and Fortescue is at the forefront. We have seen how conflict on the other side of the world can disrupt fuel supply and send prices soaring. I have got a bill for $450 to fill up my Land Cruiser on the weekend. I never thought I would get to see a price that high in my life, and that is why it has only done 10,000 Ks in five years.
Australia has the sun, the wind, and the resources to power major industries right here at home. We cannot let that opportunity pass us by. The more power we generate here in the Pilbara, the less fuel we need to bring in from elsewhere. That gives us more control how we power our business. Right now, we have more than 1.3 GW of solar and wind operating or under construction in the Pilbara. We have built over 550 km of high-voltage transmission lines to connect all of our sites, and it is just the beginning. We can now build solar, wind, and transmission in the Pilbara at a fraction of the cost of our competitors. We are bringing costs down even further by building at scale, using new technology, and making the most of the people and camps and infrastructure we already have.
I was at our Nullagine project just a few days ago, where these first three towers of its type in the world were being erected. What struck me was when you just look behind the horizon, the potential that is there. Our chairman will spice it up a little bit further at the end of the meeting. These blades reach 280 meters at the tip. They will be the tallest onshore wind turbines in the world. We have put an 8-MW turbine on top of it. This technology was developed by Nabrawind, and my partner in crime over there concluded the acquisition and bought Nabra in-house last year. Each tower is built in sections on the ground, then lifted in stages using hydraulic equipment. What is all that for?
That lets us build bigger turbines and harness more energy at a lower cost than any other wind project on the planet. We are getting faster at building solar, too. Our teams have gone from installing 3,500 panels to more than 6,000 panels a day manually, and now we are testing this technology to speed up that construction even further. At Solomon, we are trialing a system that combines three machines into one. We speed up piling, panel installation, and tracking. It significantly increases the rate we can install and drops the cost even more. We are expanding the Green Grid beyond what we need for our own operations. The board approved last year to add another 200 MW firm renewable into the grid. It was met with some skepticism. Is this another investment where the offtake does not exist?
This morning, I penned the deal on the back of more than a year's effort with PLS Pilbara Minerals. It is our first ever contract. We have signed a 20-year PPA agreement, power purchase agreement, marking our role as an energy supplier in the market. This, for us, creates a new long-term revenue stream for Fortescue, and there is room to do much, much more. Business across the Pilbara needs cheap, reliable power, and the Green Grid gives them another option. The Green Grid is already powering the electrical equipment we are bringing into our mines. We have electric excavators, drills, locos, water carts, dozers, loaders, and graders across all of our sites, and people still ask me whether or not these things exist or whether or not they can do the job. They already are, they can, and they are already outperforming their diesel counterparts. Next come the haul trucks.
Our first 240-ton battery electric truck is only weeks away from going to the Pilbara. It is moving around in a secret location right now, around the corner from the airport, and will be heading to the Pilbara soon. It has a Fortescue Zero power system, and will go straight into the operations with hundreds more to follow. Getting this to work takes more than just replacing the diesel engine with a battery. The power transmission line, storage, charges, and software all have to work in unison. I describe it as an orchestra when it reaches its crescendo. That is really when the system comes together to its full potential, and we have spent the past four years building the infrastructure, testing the equipment in real operating conditions.
What we've learned gives us confidence that an electric fleet will cost less to own and operate than a diesel fleet, and that's using today's technology. We expect to cut our unit costs by $2-$4 a ton in the next few years. When you're shipping 200 million tons of product, a few dollars a ton adds up to a seriously big amount, and does move the needle in terms of the value proposition we bring. As the technology improves, we expect to save even more. Powering the equipment is one part of the job. We also need to get more from the whole operation. Let's talk a bit about AI. Led by our Executive Chairman, I'd say nearly 10 years ago, we started championing how AI will change the shape of how industry like us works.
For us, for the last few years, it's been making a significant difference to help our people make better decisions across the business. Through our control room here in Perth, we call it the Hive, we bring together information from our mines, rail, port logistics, and energy systems. It gives our team a live picture of what's happening across the operations and how changes in one area hundreds of kilometers away can affect the entire supply chain. That's why we're so confident about the economics of this energy transition. At our mines right now, AI can pick up early signs of wear or changing conditions, so the team can act before small problems become significant impacts to our operations. On the rail network, AI already helps schedule train movements and adjust those plans in real time.
Things we were only dreaming about a few years ago, and has added millions of tons of capacity to our network with no capital. When conditions change, it helps our team work out the best response and keep our ore moving. Excitingly, this year, we launched that software to the market. HaulX revolutionizes how mines and heavy industry operate. It is a true disruption, and for the first time, we can operate any piece of heavy machinery in one software layer. This breaks the stranglehold that OEMs and suppliers have had over us mining companies. No longer do we need to have one supplier of equipment in operating our mines. We can use our purchase power and bring in all different types of machinery, and we're doing that already. We have some mines already operating like that.
As I wrap up, you can sense I'm pretty excited about this stuff. We move more than 600 million tons of earth every year, and for most of my career, that's been meant by using and burning diesel. Now we're putting electric machines to work and building them with green power at nearly no operating cost. For me, this is an absolute no-brainer. We can build our costs down, build a new energy business right in our own backyard, and take control of our own energy security. It's not a question of if others will follow. For me, it's only about when. I think one day we'll look back and know that this was this moment that the mining industry and heavy industry changed forever, and it started with your Fortescue.
With that, I will hand over now to Gus, CEO of Growth and Energy, to talk more about our future.
Thanks, Dino. Again, you lead an amazing team, and you are a great leader. I am very happy to call you with you, and very proud of you. Again, happy to be here with you all. I will not laugh, I promise. I have some familiar faces here. Happy to be here. We are building on our strong foundations of iron ore operations to grow and diversify Fortescue for the future. We are doing this discipline and on a strong commercial focus, finding customers for green electrons, exploring new critical minerals, while innovating new developing technologies like Dino mentioned before. The ongoing success of our iron ore business is incredibly important. This is why we are continuing our negotiations with China Mineral Resources Group. These discussions are not easy, but we are engaging respectfully and in good faith. We want the right commercial outcome, not just the quickest one.
This does put short-term pressure on our business, and we are looking at all options to manage this. But Fortescue did not get where it is today by taking the easy path. It is vital we reach a deal that protects Fortescue's long-term interest and Australia's more broadly. This also shows why growing and diversifying our business is so important. Exploration is at the core of that. During the year, we updated our life of mine plan to include Blacksmith. We have unlocked significant value since then, growing that mineral resource to 615 million tons, more than 2.5 x what it was when we acquired it. Pegging ground in the Pilbara is how this company started, and now we are doing it globally. In Gabon, our teams have drilled more than 250,000 meters at our Bélinga iron ore project, giving us greater understanding of the potential for this resource.
Beyond iron ore, copper will drive our diversification. This is why this year we acquired the Cañariaco project in Peru, and we expect to be drilling by the end of next year. This is a large-scale copper deposit that looks incredibly promising and strengthen our existing drilling programs across Argentina, Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia. The same forces demanding copper are also driving a search for green electrons. I think Dino Otranto mentioned it before. Between now and 2030, the International Energy Agency says we are entering the age of electricity, and Fortescue is ready to fuel it. Over the last few years, we identified key locations around the world, banking ourselves a glut of electrons for the future. We will commercialize these renewable resources to industry that needs them, whether that is green hydrogen, green fuels, or data centers. We are starting here in Australia. Dino Otranto just mentioned today.
Congratulations, Dino and the team. Dino mentioned first sign of the PPA, so well done to the team. The first customer from our Green Grid is here. We will prove we can do it in the Pilbara, supplying electrons to decarbonize industries, and this then creates a credible pathway to replicate that same model at the scale globally. Let's talk about technology. Technology and innovations connect all of this. We have seen the videos, and we have seen the examples that we are running in the Pilbara, and that is why we just need to develop them, test them, prove it, and then deploy it. We look for problems others see as barriers and work out how to solve them. In the early days of Fortescue, challenge was that the iron ore assumption that lower-grade deposits could not be developed commercially.
Technology made us competitive, and we are bringing that same challenger mindset to copper. Our new arsenic removal technology developed here in Australia has the potential to unlock new copper deposits that were considered too difficult or expensive to develop. Not only will we use this on our own projects, it is something the industry more broadly will want as well. At Fortescue Zero, we test our innovations at extremes, not only in the Pilbara but also in the Formula E. We learn from it and take that knowledge into our operations. Our Elysia battery intelligence software started on the racetrack and is now deployed across our electric fleet and battery storage systems. We have also sold it to third-party customers like Jaguar Land Rover. The same goes for our batteries.
Fortescue Zero power systems are already installed in the first of the T 264 trucks and will soon join our operations in the Pilbara. You also heard Dino talk about the world-leading wind turbines. It is our Nabrawind technology that is enabling us to install them faster and cheaper than anywhere in Australia. We have big ambitions in Fortescue, and we plan to deliver them. We are staying disciplined now more than ever about where to deploy capital, and we are focused on making smart commercial decisions that create lasting values for you, our shareholders. [non-English content] .
I think just in general, the people at Fortescue is what sets it apart. We are who we say we are, and we do what we say we are going to do. It is a type of place where if you are willing to put your hand up and give it a crack, the world's your oyster.
Got to say, it is a great place to work here. We have an extraordinary team.
What I love most about Fortescue is that after all these years, it really does feel like another home.
It is something different every day. I also love the opportunity that it has given me to travel. Going out into the Pilbara and up to Port, it is a pretty cool place.
To far boat.
Since coming to Fortescue, I feel like I could really be myself and grab hold of the values and get around some great people.
I find the difference with Fortescue and what sets us apart is that we challenge ourselves. We don't go for the small targets. We go for the huge ones, and we stretch ourselves to deliver every time.
Look where the business is now. At the forefront, exploring, developing, embracing, delivering new ideas and technology to the world.
I think every day at Fortescue is great. Every time I hop on the train, it's kind of surreal. We drive the longest, the heaviest train in the world, and you don't actually realize how cool of a moment it is until you're out there, you're doing it, you're in the deets, and yeah, it's pretty amazing.
Just being in the Pilbara collecting iron ore is nearly enough. We are going to a brighter, greener future, and to be a part of that is pretty cool.
Fortescue is one of the only companies that I know of that has a vision bigger than itself.
I am grateful to Fortescue for providing my family with career opportunities, but also for the chance to be dad and husband.
This is my dad, Carl, and one of the best decisions he has ever made is joining the Fortescue family.
Because I love the people I work with, I love the company, and with that, it allows me to come home and spend quality time with my family.
It's more than just a career or a job at Fortescue. It's a little girl's dream actually coming true.
For me, working at Fortescue, it's about the sunrises and the sunsets, and it's about the occasional bit of fun. Mostly, it's about connecting with people. The relationships we build, the teams we become part of, the people that make the challenging days worthwhile. At the end of the day, that's what makes this more than just a job.
If I may, Mr. Chairman. Is there any chance of having that white screen taken off in front of the speakers, please? It's over your head. I can't see their face.
Which? This one?
The teleprompter?
Yeah, that one.
Oh, okay.
Yeah. Not sure, boss. I will check it out.
Yeah. We can get that removed. Thank you. We will get that removed.
Your command is my wish.
We can move it now.
We don't need it again.
Just unscrew it.
Okay. Yeah, I think just pull it down. Great.
Hopefully that's better for you.
See how easy you can get things done at Fortescue, mate?
Okay. Thank you, everyone, and we will now move to the formal business of today's meeting. I can advise that a quorum exists and declare the formal business open. The minutes from the last AGM have been approved by the board, and a copy is available to be viewed by any shareholder. The notice of meeting is taken as read, and to streamline the meeting, the details of the resolutions and the proxy votes will be displayed on the screens, and I do not intend to read each of them out to you. Shareholders, their proxies, corporate representatives will also be given the opportunity to ask questions that are relevant to the management of the company or the business of today's meeting prior to each resolution being considered.
If you have a question, please raise your white or blue admission card, which you received when you entered the meeting today, and please state your name when you address the meeting. Please note that if you have a red or green card, you are not entitled to vote or speak at the meeting today. In accordance with the constitution of the company, the voting procedure is at the chair's discretion, and I can advise that we will hold a poll in relation to resolutions one through eight. Mr. Chris Hernandez from the company share registry, MUFG Corporate Markets, has been appointed to conduct the poll. The persons entitled to vote on the poll are all shareholders, representatives, and attorneys of shareholders and proxy holders who hold the white voting cards. An example is now being shown on the screens.
On this card, you will find a series of boxes for voting. Please indicate on your card how you wish to vote, and please note that you must mark either the for or against box for your vote to count. If there are any aspects of the voting of which you are uncertain, please ask representatives from the MUFG team who will be circulating the room with ballot boxes once all resolutions have been read. The formal business of the meeting will close following collection of the poll papers, and the results will be announced to the ASX later today. The first item on the agenda is in relation to receiving the financial reports and the climate statements. Details are now being shown on the screens. Are there any questions in relation to the reports, including questions of the company's auditor, PwC? Thank you.
Good morning, everyone. I am Ros Ferguson, representing the Australian Shareholders Association with proxy votes from 194 shareholders today, representing about 1.174 million shares. We congratulate Fortescue on its record iron ore shipments, the further ramp-up in Iron Bridge magnetite production, and a strong balance sheet in 2026. We will be voting in favor of all resolutions today. I have a question, please. Are there specific milestones and timelines that the board require the Growth and Energy portfolio to hit before it continues to receive capital, given the segment's continuing EBITDA loss and the further write-downs this year? Could you share those milestones with us? Thank you.
Yes. Milestones are to generate shareholder value. That is the major milestone in very significant quantum. Previously, we invested around $700 million, more recently $500 million, this year about $300 million. So we are bringing the numbers down while the achievements are rising. To me, I am satisfied that these huge businesses which we are developing, do not get created without a huge amount of effort, courage, blood, sweat, and tears, and capital. I am firmly of the belief that this will continue to grow shareholder value, and I look forward to addressing it with you more formally towards the end of the meeting. Thank you.
This one.
Good morning, general meeting and Dr. Forrest. I have a question, which I think is very important. My name is Paul Sligh. Are you considering geothermal that provides 24/7 base power? Currently, the largest in Australia is being developed north of Perth and is due to operate in 2027. On the future, will you be using FCEV as you originally planned when facing Elon Musk and giving zero pollution? Another one is, are you considering osmotic power, which is being developed by the Japanese, as a variation using salt water?
Very glad to see you doing your homework, sir. Osmotic power, we're still getting across. We love what the Japanese are doing. I welcomed a very large Japanese delegation, very senior people, to site and to Minderoo to go through all of those technologies only last week. We're hard onto this. With SpaceX and others, I'd say they're more likely to become clients of ours than we are to be using their technology. They come to us because they consider we have superb technology and the capability to roll that technology out on a scale which the world hasn't seen. Once again, as I say to my friend, I will be talking to you more about that towards the end of the meeting, and you can hammer me over a cup of tea. Geothermal.
I happen to be a big fan of geothermal, like I am in nuclear fusion. But nuclear fusion, I think, is risky. I'm happy to put my own capital at risk there because I'm likely to lose it. But for Fortescue, I'm going to wait till that technology really matures. Whichever one of these works, Fortescue will be at the leading edge to multiply it. There's one thing being at the cutting edge of technology, there's another thing altogether to be at the position of being able to commercialize it on great scale. Be assured that Facebook or Amazon or Google or any of these companies, they didn't invent the internet. They were just there to scale someone else's invention. And they deserve their success for doing that. Fortescue's going to make sure it's at the position of scaling. Back on geothermal, I watch it like a hawk.
Friends of mine are running two very successful geothermal companies. It can't produce the massive scale which we need at Fortescue yet. So we're rolling with technology that we know. Solar, wind, batteries. That technology itself isn't quite as trendy as geothermal or osmotic or nuclear fusion, but don't underestimate its own technical growth. Its technical growth is substantial. The value cost for us to buy batteries, to buy solar panels, has collapsed while the efficiency of that technology to produce energy has risen exponentially. And of course, then you've got self-erecting wind towers, which is a complete breakthrough altogether. As you know, these wind towers are the largest in Australia, possibly will be the largest on-land wind towers in the world. As that self-erecting speed gets quicker and quicker, we spend weeks erecting a wind tower in the eastern states.
We can do these self-erecting wind towers in a few days, probably a couple of days soon. More to be had on that subject, and thank you for raising it.
Wow. The FCEV, which you originally faced off with Elon Musk and said that was going to be the future, and Elon Musk says no, he's going to go for batteries. That was the issue.
What, FCEV?
Yeah.
Sorry, I'm not across it, sir.
It's hydrogen power, which means, in other words, you have zero pollution, whereas at the moment, the other way is not zero pollution.
Yeah, batteries are fantastic, and as you can see, we need them dramatically. When we are producing green iron, we are using hydrogen. Hydrogen is a chemical which we can strip our oxygen. You cannot do that with a battery. We are very keen on hydrogen. We are developing it furiously. It has two different applications. Both batteries and hydrogen are needed to completely change the world. We cannot do it one without the other. We need both.
Oh, sorry for that. I just have a question for Dr. Forrest, if possible. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to ask questions today. I also welcome the fact that unlike many of the other major miners, Fortescue carries very little debt. It is very reassuring. Some of the others have got billions of USD worth of debt at very high interest rates. However, I would like to know how you see the market developing for iron ore over the next five to 10 years, and how the company plans to allocate capital accordingly. By way of background, shareholders read reports of a slowdown in rebar production in China, possible decline in Vale's production, new supply coming from Africa, India's potential requirements. There is also a growing demand for metals like copper and uranium. I would just be grateful if you could tell us what your thinking is.
Sorry, my phone is gone. What your thinking is on what the market is telling you, and how Fortescue expects to deploy its capital over the next five to 10 years including by returning money to shareholders. For example, we cannot criticize you for the loss on the hydrogen investment. BHP lost billions on their Hot Briquetted Iron. If you do not have a go, you are not going to get anywhere. I do not take that. I do wonder whether, in hindsight, that money could have been paid as dividends or share buybacks. More importantly, can you explain what lessons have been learned? Dino Otranto made some comment about it, but have you put in place a more robust process for capital allocation, so we avoid those sort of situations in the future?
We are not going to be putting in more robust processes. We have extremely robust processes. It does not mean that the bets we take always win. Where you have technology which is on the cusp of breaking through, it sometimes does not break through. This company is where you need us to be, always on the leading edge. It means sometimes the bets we take do not all win. From an overall performance-wise, why you support us is because the vast majority do. That is why we are still the highest performing company in Australia's stock exchange history. To move more specifically to, say, the focus we had on iron ore in 2003, 2004. If we cast our minds back that far, that was the number one energy. Sorry. That was the number one commodity in the world.
It still is, as a strategic material, as a critical material for the world's development. It is still the number one in the world. However, back then, it was also the biggest industry in the world. Now, the biggest industry in the world we see won't be iron ore. It will most likely be energy, underpinned by iron ore, underpinned by copper, underpinned by other materials. All of which Fortescue has in the pipeline. I think we are in a really good position. However, don't think we are going to change the world by making 20 correct bets out of 20. It is never going to happen. We will change the world by trying, failing, and then learning quickly from our failure. That is what we are doing.
I really look forward to speaking with you about where I see the most critical commodity, the largest commodity of them all now, and how we can meet that in a completely new way, like we did for iron ore, and that is energy. Let me speak to you about that towards the end of the meeting. I have a prepared answer for you. Thank you, sir.
I have one other question, if you wouldn't mind. That is possibly a personal question. You may not wish to reply, but hopefully, since I have come this morning from Sydney, you may give me the time. You are definitely one of Australia's leading entrepreneurs, there is no doubt about that. I really wonder whether you see yourself more like a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffett. In a term, I am saying that do you have any plans to step aside from the board and leave the running of Fortescue to others, like Bill Gates did? Or do we expect to see you in the current role in 20 years' time, as was the case with Warren Buffett? Both of them have done very successful for their companies. I am not suggesting one is better than the other. I am just asking a personal question as-
That is great.
Do you see yourself being around in 20 years, or do you see yourself doing a Bill Gates?
Look, really loaded question. Thank you for that. I love your genial grandfather innocent style. It's very disarming, very charming, and then you just pull out this weapon. I do say this. I feel that we all live very short lives. I feel that we have an opportunity to make a difference. I feel that failure is not a crime. Failure is the only way to succeed. Where I can make the biggest difference to improving Perth, Western Australia, and perhaps have a tiny impact on the world, I'm going to have a proper crack at that with the very best ability I can, and that is, I believe, through Fortescue.
Now, I have philanthropic investments I have committed to a long time ago and will carry through with assigning all my own interests in Fortescue shares across to the Minderoo Foundation. That is a process where I feel I can make the biggest contribution with the value that I've been able to create, as well as keep building massive value inside Fortescue. I will start to boil the ocean a little towards my address at the end of the meeting. I can say this to you, sir. The journey of Fortescue is really its first step that you've seen in the last decade or so. The serious value creation, the serious impact you can create on the world through enormous value creation, is in front of this company.
I intend to drive that, encourage that, inspire that, and give my leaders confidence, give my leaders all the fuel in the tank they need, all the courage that they need to take the furthest hill, because that's what we will need to change our world and to grow this company many, many fold to where we are now. Thank you.
Hi. Just a simple question. I just wanted to ask about the share price. It is sort of up and down like a yo-yo. We have been up as high as $30, and now we are sort of half that. I am just wondering, why is the market so nervous about Fortescue? Are we not selling all this incredible innovation? It sounds fantastic in the room. We are all here nodding, thinking, "Wow, wow." Why is that not getting across to more Australians and the share price going up, up?
Yeah. I have always said at the beginning, certainly in the early days of Fortescue, that there is this lag of some years of the market appreciating what we are doing before they acted on it. Often the market acted like shutting the gate after the horse had already got out. The value creation had been there for some time, and then finally the market reacts to it. I think for everything we are talking about in the future, the market is still years behind Fortescue. You have heard Dino say, Gus say, people do not even believe the decarbonization which you are seeing in Fortescue is going to save several dollars a ton times 200 million tons. You can see what that means in value creation to shareholders. That delay is with us right now.
There is another impact, and that is that the analysts focus in very hard on the effort of China's to take a serious influence on the iron ore price themselves. China, as China knows, are one of my best mates. That does not mean I always agree with my best mates. We are very honest and forthright with China saying, "We are going to continue to act in Australia's long-term best interests." What BHP and Rio Tinto do is up to them. Fortescue has always played the long game, and that has helped us. We will be negotiating fairly and properly with CMRG. They are backed by the government of China. We are one company. But we have a say, and we deeply respect that all our customers need to win as well as Fortescue.
That does not mean that we need to cave into demands which we do not think are in the best interests of shareholders or in the best interests of our country. Those negotiations are ongoing. While they are, the nervous Nellies in the analytical community, which have the short-term impact on the share price, madam, which you are seeing now, will have an outsized influence on the share price. You just ride through that. People who judge a company's performance on the day-to-day stock price never win. I just say stay the course. The trend is your friend. This is still the highest performing company in Australia.
Thank you. If there are no further questions, I propose we take the reports as read. Can I please just remind everyone that if they do want to ask a question, please do hold up your white or blue card and please state your name before addressing the meeting. The next business item on the agenda is the adoption of the remuneration report. Details for this resolution are now on the screens. Before we open for questions, I would like to make a few comments on behalf of the board in relation to Fortescue's remuneration framework. The remuneration framework is designed to be competitive in attracting and retaining the best talent, drive performance, and deliver outcomes that are aligned with our shareholders' interests. When assessing outcomes, the board maintains a holistic view of performance.
Consideration is given to what the board determines to be a fair outcome in the circumstances, taking account of what was delivered, how it was delivered in alignment with our values, and the experience and expectations of our shareholders. The framework reinforces accountability through a balanced combination of financial and non-financial measures, supporting the execution of Fortescue's strategy and sustainable long-term growth. Are there any questions on this resolution? If there are no questions, I will put the resolution to a vote. Please complete your vote now. I now propose the resolution to re-elect Dr. Andrew Forrest AO as Director. Details of the resolution are now on the screens. Dr. Forrest is an Entrepreneur, Scientist, and Business Leader, and the Founder of Fortescue. He has also established Minderoo Foundation, Australia's largest philanthropic organization, and Tattarang, a private investment group which invests in sectors critical to national resilience and long-term prosperity.
Holding a PhD in marine ecology, Dr. Forrest is committed to addressing global challenges through innovation, science, and philanthropy, particularly in green energy solutions, climate and ocean science, and humanitarian relief. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, he was also recognized as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2025. I would now like to ask Andrew to make a brief statement.
Oh, not again. You're going to be sick of me at the end of this. Look, just to say it's an absolute honor to serve you shareholders. I'm having a ball. I will explain more, as I've said before, at the end of the meeting. But look, I just want to say thank you so much for your support. I hope you have as much fun on this ride. I know it's a bumpy ride, but just weather the bumps and enjoy the journey. Please, please enjoy it as much as I am. Thank you.
Thanks, Andrew. Are there any questions on this resolution? I will now put the resolution to a vote. Please complete your vote now. I now propose the resolution to re-elect Mark Barnaba as Director. Details of this resolution are now on the screens. Mr. Barnaba has served as Deputy Chairman of Fortescue since 2017 and Non-Executive Director since 2010. An accomplished business leader with extensive international experience across finance, technology, infrastructure, and natural resources, Mr. Barnaba has held several prominent leadership positions. He currently serves as Chairman of Greatland Resources and of AirTrunk, and has previously served on the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia, and has held senior leadership roles at Macquarie Group and McKinsey & Company. Mr. Barnaba holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UWA and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
He is a member of the Order of Australia and recipient of the WA Citizen of the Year Award for Industry and Commerce. I would now like to ask Mark to make a brief statement.
Thank you, Mona. I am not sure my mother would have given me such a generous introduction, so I appreciate that. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Let me extend my own personal thank you for your being here today as our shareholders. I have been on this board for 17 years, and let me say, it has been nothing but a great privilege and honor to work with this group of people and to serve you all as shareholders. The journey has been an incredible one, from the early days where we were not yet producing 50 million tons a year to where we are today with the 200 million tons and the Green Grid that we have. Having said that, and having spent 17 years on the board, I have never been as excited and optimistic as I am today about our future.
I think we are at a real inflection point, and a combination of the strategic options and the bets that we have undertaken in the last five years in particular, I think place us in a very unique position going forward. I do believe that in the next three, four, five years, we will see even much more so the fruits of those investments. Let me also say before finishing how I see my role as a Director and how I see my role as serving you all. As a Director, I see myself as an agent of all of you, as a steward of your best interests, and a custodian of looking to see what is best for shareholders. That is the role of a Director. I remind myself that every week.
If I am fortunate enough to be reelected for another three-year period, that same attitude will be the attitude that I adopt going forward. Final comment is just to say thank you. You have trusted in me in my role for 17 years. I am enormously grateful for that, and I hope I can continue doing that. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Mark. Are there any questions on this resolution? Yep.
Ros Ferguson, representing the Australian Shareholders Association. In view of yesterday's media reporting that two institutional proxy advisors indicated they do not plan to support Mr. Barnaba's re-election, we wish to clarify the ASA position. We would like to acknowledge Mr. Barnaba's excellent contribution to Fortescue. That includes his 16, or I think 17 years of service, his chairing of the Audit, Finance and Risk Management Committee through a demanding year, and his perfect attendance at all board and audit committee meetings in FY 2026. Given his other chair roles at AirTrunk and Greatland and his recent appointment to chair the WA Government Steering Committee of the proposed merger of the state's public universities, how does the board assess his capacity to continue in these roles, and what is the board's policy on the number of external roles a director may hold? Thank you for your time today.
Penny. Penny.
Sure.
They are on mute.
Oh, and Penny, you might need to turn back.
No. Do I need to turn it on?
You might come up.
Oh, there we go.
There you go.
Thanks for the question, Ros, and look, appreciate the acknowledgement of Mark's tremendous contribution over that time. Having worked with Mark for 10 years, I can assure you all that he certainly puts in the time and effort and makes a huge contribution. In terms of assessing his capacity to support the board, I think there's a number of things to think about. Just in terms of the skills, the corporate knowledge that he brings to this role is tremendous. We do, as most boards do, an annual evaluation of board performance, including individuals. And certainly, if there were any concerns, that would be brought to the nominations committee for a discussion. I can assure you that Mark absolutely contributes hugely across the whole organization and is certainly a great addition to the board.
In terms of whether we have a policy, we don't have a policy on the number of roles that a director can have. In fact, all of the boards that I have been on, whether they're ASX-listed or otherwise, we don't have a policy. I think everyone's capacity to contribute varies, and every board role you take on has a very different workload. No, we don't have a policy, but we certainly do assess it on an ongoing basis. I'd just like to assure everyone that Mark is a great contributor to the board, as you acknowledged, and that we're very pleased to have him with us. Thank you.
Thanks, Penny. Are there any other questions? I will then now put the resolution to a vote. Please complete your vote now. I now propose the resolution to reelect Penny Bingham-Hall as Director. Details are now on the screens. Ms. Bingham-Hall has served as Non-Executive Director of Fortescue since 2016 and brings over 30 years of experience in senior executive and board roles across major ASX-listed companies. Her extensive experience spans the construction, infrastructure, mining, and property sectors throughout Australia and Asia, with a particular focus on environmental sustainability, workplace safety, and Indigenous employment. She has previously held senior leadership roles at Leighton Holdings and directorships with several prominent Australian companies, including BlueScope Steel, Dexus Property Group, and Australia Post. Ms. Bingham-Hall is Co-Chair of Supply Nation and Deputy Chair of the Advisory Council of the Climate Governance Initiative of Australia.
I would now like to ask Penny to make a brief statement.
Thank you, Mona, and good morning again, ladies and gentlemen. It has been an absolute pleasure to serve as a Director of Fortescue for the past 10 years, and I am honored to be seeking reelection. Over that time, that decade, Fortescue has become one of the world's largest and lowest-cost iron ore producers while leading the way on decarbonization across our mining operations. As you heard from our CEOs today, we are well and truly on that journey, and it is something that I am immensely proud of. Throughout that time, our unique values have remained constant. They define not only what we do but how we do it. Safety remains a core value and our number one priority. However, we do recognize there is more to do to ensure that everyone is and feels safe at work.
Sexual harassment, bullying, and other forms of workplace misconduct have no place at Fortescue, and where misconduct is reported, we act. Our people and culture are fundamental to our success. As Chair of the Board's People, Remuneration, and Nominations Committee, I am focused on aligning remuneration with shareholder expectations, retaining talent, of which we have a lot of it, and fostering a high-performance and inclusive culture. As a Director, I bring commercial and governance experience, as Mona has outlined, and I also have a really strong commitment to environmental and social sustainability, which I believe is fundamental to the growth of long-term shareholder returns. With your support, I look forward to working with my fellow Directors to help shape Fortescue's future. Thank you.
Well done.
Thanks, Penny. Are there any questions on this resolution? If there are no questions, I will now put the resolution to a vote. Please complete your vote now. I now propose the resolution to re-elect Dr. Larry Marshall as Director. Details are now on the screens. Dr. Marshall has served as Non-Executive Director of Fortescue since August of 2023 and as Lead Independent Director since November 2024. An accomplished scientist, entrepreneur, and business leader, he brings extensive international experience across technology, innovation, and commercialization. He has previously served as Chief Executive of CSIRO, where he led significant organizational transformation and spent 26 years in the U.S. leading six technology companies and delivering three successful IPOs. Dr. Marshall holds a PhD in physics, has served on numerous international technology boards, and is a fellow of several prestigious Australian scientific and business institutions.
He is also currently on the board of Nanosonics Limited and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. I would now like to ask Larry to make a brief statement.
Take your time.
Thank you, Mona, and thank you, shareholders. It is a real privilege to serve on this board as your Lead Independent Director. I greatly admire Fortescue's extraordinary ambition, its courage to always challenge conventional thinking, and its determination to turn bold ideas into commercial reality. But having built technology businesses, I know that vision without execution creates little value. As Lead Independent Director, independence is not just a title. It is an obligation to ask the difficult questions, to challenge the assumptions, and to ensure ambition is matched by discipline and accountability. The accelerating convergence of artificial intelligence, quantum, and advanced energy technologies like fusion means that Fortescue must evolve faster than any other time in history. But what will never change is our commitment to you, our shareholders, to strengthen our core business, to invest wisely in our future, and to deliver sustainable long-term value.
Thank you for your trust and support. I will not let you down. Thank you.
Thanks, Larry. Are there any questions on this resolution? I will now put the resolution to a vote. Please complete your vote now. I now propose the resolution to elect Sigrid Kaag as Director. Details are now on the screens. Ms. Kaag was appointed as Non-Executive Director in August of this year. She brings over 35 years of international experience in government, finance, international affairs, and climate-related investment, and has previously served as the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Netherlands, as well as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation. Ms. Kaag has held senior leadership positions within the United Nations, including at Under Secretary General level, and has represented the Netherlands at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
She has played a significant role in global climate finance and sustainable development initiatives and currently serves as the Chair of the UN Foundation Board of Directors. I would now like to ask Sigrid to make a brief statement.
Take your time.
Good morning. I am usually not limping. It is my foot from sitting down. Apologies for that. It is a nice start. Good morning, everyone, and a warm welcome to shareholders. As this is my first time to actually speak publicly in Australia, I would also like to begin today by acknowledging the traditional custodians on which we gather today and pay my respects to the elders, past and present. It is truly an honor and a joy to be here and to seek your support and confidence and trust for my election to the Fortescue board. It is no understatement, ladies and gentlemen, to say that we are living through a period of profound change, turbulence, rupture, fraction, driven principally by shifting power politics and reshaping of the global economic order in a way we have not seen and witnessed before.
This changing world presents new opportunities, but also serious risks, and it demands prudent judgment, discipline, and a clear, I would say, lucid understanding of the forces at play and how we wish to interact with them. Throughout my career at the highest levels of government, international institutions, and finance, I have worked and experienced the intersection of these forces, how to do good, how to seize opportunities and also how to miss them. Fortescue is known globally as an extraordinary Australian success story, and I am delighted to even listen, and again, listen to you, but also interact and listen to Andrew himself, his leadership, his vision, and his tested experience. Fortescue demonstrates industrial strength and environmental responsibility, and it demonstrates these are not competing ambitions. They do not mutually exclude.
We can eliminate fossil fuels from industrial operation, strengthen competitiveness, and build the technologies the world needs for profit, for shareholder benefit. I truly and humbly hope to bring this experience and my own international perspective to the Fortescue board at this particular juncture. If I am elected, I will endeavor to bring independent judgment and a profound commitment to the long-term interests of Fortescue and its shareholders. I very humbly ask for your consideration and support with sincere gratitude. Thank you.
Thank you, Sigrid. Are there any questions on this resolution? I will now put the resolution to a vote. Please complete your vote now. I now propose the resolution to approve participation in the performance rights plan by Mr. Dino Otranto. Details are now on the screens. Before we open for questions, I would just like to make some comments on behalf of the board in relation to both Resolutions 7 and 8, being Mr. Otranto's and Mr. Pichot's participation in Fortescue's performance rights plan. Fortescue remains committed to providing transparency on executive remuneration with enhanced disclosures in both the remuneration report and the notice of meeting to provide shareholders with a clear understanding of our framework. Legally, there is no requirement for shareholder approval for the grant of performance rights to the CEOs. However, in the interest of transparency and corporate governance, shareholder approval is being sought.
The notice sets out the maximum number of rights, performance measures, and vesting conditions for each CEO. Are there any questions on this resolution? If there are no questions, I will put the resolution to a vote. Please complete your vote now. I now propose the resolution to approve participation in the performance rights plan by Mr. Gus Pichot . Details are now on the screens. Are there any questions on this resolution? If there are no questions, I will now put the resolution to a vote. Please complete your vote now. If there are no further questions, I will now proceed to the closing poll. Could you please kindly lodge your voting cards in the ballot boxes that are now circulating the room? I now take it that all persons intending to vote have done so, and therefore declare the poll closed, subject to finalization.
Final results will be announced to the ASX later today. Ladies and gentlemen, I now invite Dr. Andrew Forrest to deliver his address, following which the formal business of the meeting will close. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I just want to walk you through this. There are some slides up on the screen as well, but this is, for me, deeply personal. As you know, we all burn in the fire of time, and so, as I said, we have got very short lives. We have got to make the best of it. You have been with us for a very long journey, and we have made one hell of a difference. But as I have said earlier, we are just starting out. This company is just getting going. We have got this massive iron ore endowment. We have got this spectacular board of directors. Penny, congratulations, Chair.
Thank you, chairman.
That is one person I did not get to catch the eye of. This is a company which is really seriously on the move. $40 billion of project sounds like a lot of capital. It is AUD 60- odd billion. But where the world is going is not iron ore. It is going to depend on iron ore, and we are going to be able to supply it. What it cannot depend on, as you have seen, is energy. Energy is now the most important commodity on Earth. Blowing across this beautiful state, this beautiful country, going up with the sun and down with the sun, is what we have identified as at least 11 TW of wasted energy. Fortescue is in a fabulous position to start capturing that. It is not just AI and data centers, but it is manufacturing, it is fertilizers for farmers, it is shipping fuels for ships.
This is the biggest, most polluting fuel in the world outside of making steel. We can impact both those huge emissions and those huge industries at their most vulnerable, which is where the world is, energy insufficiency and energy unreliability. Whichever way you cut this, it is not going to get easier. When we have most of our single largest cost in the iron ore industry or in the mining industry is a cost we cannot control, which is energy. When the diesel prices go up and down like crazy, even worse than the share price, madam, then you know that you are not doing something right as a leader of that group or company.
Or, in fact, worse, you are sitting back and saying, "Well, this is the industry I am in." You could be any one of the majors, you could be any one of the great industrial companies and just say, "Oh, well, I will just take energy for what it is, high, low. Sometimes my shareholders will do well, sometimes they will not. Sometimes I can provide a product people can afford, or sometimes their standard of living is going to fall because they cannot afford your commodity." That is energy right now, dependent on what some nutcase overseas might decide to do, invade another country, do really big, macho, toxic stuff, but not serve you, consumers, shareholders, public. The way to do this, and we can do it in Australia, is electrification. Electrification is also the key, sir, to making hydrogen really competitive.
Getting the cost of electricity down is absolutely key, and that is what I wanted to speak with you about. It is not just being able to make a profit, shareholders. Look, that is good. This is also something like the iron ore boom we saw coming. This is only the start. You have oil prices now at around $130 a barrel. You have the reserves of countries, particularly the U.S., at their lowest ever in 40 years, diesel reserves. You can see why Trump cuts a deal with Putin desperately to try and say, "Will you release a bit of diesel?" Then turn around and blame President Zelensky of Ukraine for being invaded by Russia. Figure that out. This is the world you are in, ladies and gentlemen, and this is what our new Director, Sigrid Kaag, said.
This will be the cost of doing nothing, the cost of being dependent upon some other fruitcake's action over the other side of the world. I know I am being really blunt here, ladies and gentlemen, but if you go and invade countries, and if you then blame them for invading them, then you know you are dealing with a serious fruitcake. That fruitcake happens to control your shareholder value, happens to control your ability to live normal lives and to send your kids to school. So I am saying that is enough, Australia. If we can produce our own energy, then for all the apologists in the world, for all those who say we have got to have fossil fuel because we have always had it, and they are saying, "Actually, we need to stay stuck on oil, stuck on diesel, stuck on gas because we are conservative, because we are sensible, because we are moderate." No.
It is none of that. It is just lazy. It is appealing to people's lack of education when you yourself have been responsible in parts of the world for that lack of education. Say, "Hey, don't do this renewable energy stuff. It is all trendy, it is all crap. Stick with oil and gas. It is the one we know." Yeah, it is the one you know. It is the one which has been hurting you for decades. It is the one which has adjusted whether or not you can put bread on the table. Totally outside of your control. So I am saying, let's get off it. Fortescue is doing it. We are 90% done with all the technology now. We have got the last 10%, which we are going to sort out the technology to make sure it is commercial. We are not doing it, shareholders, because we are lovely people. I think we are lovely people. No doubt about it.
However, we are doing it because it is commercial, and to not put too fine a point on it has to be commercial, otherwise no one will follow. What I want to talk to you about, this is really commercial. Once we go full electricity at Fortescue, as you can see, it started to unlock green iron ore into green iron. It is unlocking technology all over Fortescue, which we have mustered from all over the world, and developed ourselves. I love Nabrawind, but a lot of the tech got refined right here in Australia. What you are seeing here is energy self-erecting wind towers, which, as I have mentioned, can take weeks. We think we can get it down to a day. If we do two wind towers per site, and then we do 10 sites at once, that is 28 MW generators a day.
If we do as we've done before, and celebrate when we got to 346 big solar panels laid out every day, that's a lot. 346. Talk to the electricians. I've got Frick here, my own personal Project Manager. Took him a long time to get a solar panel up on my house. 346 a day. Then we ramped it up to 3,400 a day, and now it's sitting at 6,000 a day. That's with people like Frick. Frick, can you stand up? Sorry, mate. That's with people like Frick having to put the panels up. Okay, thank you, Frick. Now, Frick is quite a stocky bloke, plenty of muscles, and very intelligent. He's using more muscle than intellect to get those solar panels up.
I want Frick to use what his superpower is, which is his intellect, and that's to control the robots which will put those solar panels up. When we do that, we don't go from 6,000 a day with no robotics, people like me and Frick and others out there in the sun. But once we go robotic, once we go automated, let's just be conservative and say a bit over three times. We go from 7,000 or 6,000 a day to 20,000 panels per day. Multiply that over 10 sites. You get 200,000 panels a day. In a year, that's 7 million panels. Now, this is just arithmetic of what happens when you automate. Australia is a really clever country with really high labor cost, and that's a good thing because people get paid okay.
But if we need to compete with the rest of the world, we go automated and we go robotic. This is what we're best at. This is what we're proving. This is our future, ladies and gentlemen. We've already signed our first Green Grid customer. This is one company equivalent to 45,000 Australian homes powered off your new Green Grid, ladies and gentlemen. That one. That one which I believe will save this company at least AUD 1 billion a year, straight to your bottom line. This is progress. It delivered our $6.2 billion decarbonization program. It will deliver for you forever. Instead of spending $2 billion to $3 billion a year like our buddies do down the road, BHP, Rio Tinto, you name them, and everyone else who says, "Let's stick with oil and gas. It's what we know." It's what's been ripping us off.
It's what's been responsible for our indeterminate standard of living, whether or not we can send our kids to the right schools we want to or put bread on the table. Let's stick with that? No. Let's make our own power, and instead of burning your billions of dollars per year every year in diesel and gas, gone, up into the atmosphere. No. We put the savings into creating an energy system which is going to serve you forever. It's now your asset. You own one of the largest energy systems ever built in Australia. It's there for you. You own it, and it's going to produce your energy, and it's going to mean you're no longer dependent upon the fruitcakes, which I think is a bonus. Okay? That's not just saving you money, it's giving you a massive asset. We're making huge progress. Real Zero by 2030.
That means we stop burning fossil fuel. Corey, Warren, Dino, and Gus. 2028, baby. 2028. I want to switch off all that oil and gas and diesel. That is our target, team. We have got it up there 2030 because just to make the point, we are running years ahead of schedule and smack on budget. I just want to show you this little video. We are fundamentally changing how energy infrastructure has been delivered and installed. Harriet, is this the video? Maybe start it again.
Western Australia.
Can we start again? Stop for a tick. I just want to leave you with this video. It demonstrates what I have shared with you. It demonstrates what we are capable of. It relies on a port. Can we just close the video, too? Just for a sec, just for a moment. We are going to start this video with sound when I ask you to, please. Not before, baby. It relies on a new port. I do not want everyone to get worried about that. It is called a land-backed port. We did build one recently. It took four months. Just put it out there. Four months. It did not take long. The bloke who built it, can you stand up, big fella? Come on, Corey. Stand up. Stand up, Corey. Four months.
Built a land-backed port, and that is why we were able to build Iron Bridge and why we are able to bring in all this infrastructure. We are thinking about doing a very big one of them near Port Hedland, and this time it will be automated. Instead of doing everything with this, we are going to be doing it with this. It is what Fortescue does. Your trucks, ladies and gentlemen, have been automated for years. Your trucks go around the world in combined mileage two or three times a week. No drivers. We are automating our rigs. We are automating everything. We are world leaders in automation. I do not care where the technology comes from. I have just come back from Europe. Tomorrow night I will head to Boston. I have just hosted a large Japanese delegation and a large Chinese delegation into the northwestern and back into Minderoo.
It doesn't matter where the tech comes from or if we develop it in Australia, but what I do know is this: we're taking that automation technology from around the world and we're the largest scalers of it. You're seeing it in your decarbonization and you'll see it in the future. The simple message is this. You've got renewable energy which we can produce on one side and fossil fuel on the other. This one is a cookie cutter. Solar panels look very similar to the next solar panel. The wind farm looks very similar to the next wind farm. The battery looks very similar to the next battery. I'm stressing the point, ladies and gentlemen, because it's so important. If you want to go build an oil refinery or a gas plant or a great big diesel chemical facility, it's bespoke.
You put a Wheatstone up there on the North West Shelf, take that up, put it in Texas, it's probably going to blow up. You put it in the North Sea, it'll be inoperable. That oil or gas plant or that oil or gas refinery is bespoke chemicals. You get it wrong, it blows up or you can't operate it. You can't automate any of that. It takes you years and decades to build. Ask Chevron. These, we're laying out at 6,000 panels a day and we want to get that up to 20,000 x, 10 sites. The wind towers. First one took two weeks, second one a week, third we hope to get it down to three days, fourth, fifth down to a day and then of course to a site. 20 wind towers a day. 10 sites.
You are rolling out energy by automation because they're all the same. Yes, it will mean we drive large employment, but it's long-term employment. It's driving energy which attracts industry. Industry builds communities. Communities build countries. That's what we're about. The technology is proven. It's here and Fortescue has to do what it does best and that's scale it. The market is there, ladies and gentlemen. We've signed one of course, but we're speaking to all the big players in the world. Now if you could play the video please, with sound.
Western Australia. A state of extraordinary scale and even greater potential Fortescue has the vision to unlock that opportunity and deliver the next big boom using automation, robots, and AI to build the world's largest green grid ecosystem.
You're seeing energy generation efficiency going through the roof.
We're wasting our greatest resource, energy. Every time the sun goes up and down, and the wind blows across the land, we're missing out. Let's not waste it. Let's use it. Fortescue has identified the potential for 11 TW of untapped renewable energy across W.A. Yep, that's a lot. It's a big opportunity, and that's why it requires even bigger thinking. We need to scale, we need to move at speed, and we need to automate the installation of renewable energy systems. We want to use our world-leading autonomy expertise to coordinate the arrival, transport, and installation of solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries from a robotic-run port in the Pilbara. With manpower alone, we're already installing thousands of solar panels a day. With advances in technology and automation, we'll see unprecedented speed. The potential of the Pilbara is endless. Industrialization powered by highly competitive green energy.
Building new cities and powering new multigenerational industries.
Frontier AI companies super interested because our product is green.
Green compute, shipping fuels, fertilizer, and green iron, bringing long-term jobs and breathing fresh life into our regions. Australia was built on the sheep's back, and now we will work hand-in-hand with those already on the land, creating opportunities for pastoralists to diversify their income. Robotics eliminating the need to clear and level land, leaving sheep to prune and maintain vegetation and escape the sun. Sheep love shade. It is ambitious, but we are up for the challenge. Australia has a chance to be at the center of this next industrial revolution, cementing W.A. as a global player and transforming regional communities into powerhouses. Fortescue has a plan to develop the technology and build the infrastructure. We have done it before. Let us do it again.
Ladies, gentlemen, fellow shareholders, yes, it is the next generation of Fortescue, but this is a vision which started back in 2013 when the board first started to explore what would it take to make hydrogen commercially. What would it take to make electricity much cheaper than oil and gas. What would it take to electrify all of Fortescue. Now, what we are being asked around the world is what will it take to electrify the world. The issue is electricity, cheap, long-term affordable green electricity. This, I see, is the next generation of Fortescue. It is possible. Only possible because we have a massive industrial company, hugely successful, making 200 million tons of iron ore a year, which if we turn into green iron, makes 100 million tons of green iron/green steel, which is about 30% more than all of Japan. It is a very large potential.
Let us not call it a vision. Let us call it potential so the critics can all calm down. Let us say this, ladies and gentlemen, fellow shareholders, we are on a journey together. Let us use our massively successful industrial base, which is a huge consumer of energy, to turn fully green. To make all our own power, to have all our own energy assets owned by you, our shareholders, to continue making all our own energy forever. Let us take that technology, which we have developed, I call it a little rudely, a prototype. The energy experts say, "Can run half the state on that, mate. It is not a prototype." Righto. It is a prototype compared to what the world needs. The world needs at least 10,000x of what we have built. Let us go give the world a hand. Thank you.
It is the meeting, and we invite you to join us for some light refreshments outside. We really are very grateful for you being with us here today. Thank you.