Fortescue Founder and Chairman, Dr Andrew Forrest AO and Chief Executive Officer, Ms Elizabeth Gaines celebrated the official opening in Perth with:
Hon Bill Johnston MLA, Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Energy; Industrial Relations
Matt Keogh, Shadow Minister for WA Resources
Hon Bill Marmion MLA, Deputy Leader; Shadow Minister for Mines and Petroleum
Patrick Gorman, Federal Member for Perth
Members of the Fortescue Board of Directors and the Core Leadership team
The purpose-built facility includes Fortescue’s planning, operations and mine control teams, together with port, rail, shipping and marketing teams. The newly refurbished space allows 330 team members across Fortescue’s complete supply chain to work together, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to deliver improved safety, reliability, efficiency and commercial outcomes.
Dr Forrest said: “Mining is one of the most innovative industries in the world. Fortescue has long been a technology leader in the industry and was the first mining operation in Western Australia to control a railway from a remote location when we unveiled our Train Control Centre in Perth in 2009.
“Since then Fortescue has continued to lead the pack and today we officially launch the Fortescue Hive, our reimagined IOC, which sits at the heart of our integrated supply chain to deliver critical ores to develop the great cities of our region and beyond,” Dr Forrest said.
Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Gaines, said “Fortescue has developed the world's most advanced vertically integrated bulk operations infrastructure. We are very proud to open our enhanced IOC, the Fortescue Hive, which enables us to operate our globally significant mines from the centre of Perth.
“The Fortescue Hive seamlessly links our core exploration, metallurgical, mining and marketing expertise to deliver value to our customers, shareholders and the broader community. Importantly, the Fortescue Hive will underpin our future use of technology including artificial intelligence and robotics and will expand to include the generation and integrated distribution network for the Pilbara Energy Connect, our hybrid solar-gas power solution,” Ms Gaines said.
Chief Operating Officer, Greg Lilleyman, said “Fortescue’s integrated management of the mine to market supply chain is unique to our industry and co-locating our planning, operations, shipping and marketing business functions further leverages our exclusive advantage. By ensuring our teams are truly integrated we can capitalise on market dynamics and respond to the needs of our customers” Mr Lilleyman said.
Facts about the Fortescue Hive:
- Covers 2,500m2
- Over 15 weeks, 6.5 tonnes of concrete was removed from the building, while 2.1 tonnes of steel was installed
- The fit-out includes 162 workstations and 996 computer monitors, connected by 64km of underfloor cables
Source: Company website
