Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group has opted for an oil and gas executive to lead its iron ore business to a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions future.Fiona Hick was revealed as Fortescue’s new chief executive of iron ore on Tuesday shortly after Woodside Energy announced her resignation as executive vice president of Australian operations.
“Fiona will lead Fortescue Metals into the next phase, potentially the most exciting and fruitful of our company’s highly active history,” he said. She described the Fortescue plan for decarbonising mining as inspiring and part of the reason she agreed to come on board. The company has long talked about its ambitions in lithium mining and more recently rare earths, but has no projects or assets of note in so-called green metals, with Ms Hick now expected to lead meaningful investments.
“After so much management churn, Fortescue needs to demonstrate they can retain executive talent,” Mr Kavonic said.“Woodside has a strong handle on operations, with CEO O’Neill having previously headed operations before Fiona stepped into the role, which was split between Australian and international operations.”