Rio Tinto defends Pilbara after Forrest voices ‘wasteland’ fears

A Rio Tinto Group executive has defended the future of Australia’s iron ore hub, after mining billionaire Andrew Forrest delivered a downbeat message on its prospects unless it gets more green investment.

Fortescue Ltd. founder Forrest flagged fears that China’s potential pivot away from traditional coal-powered blast furnaces would threaten the Pilbara, which has less of the higher grade ore needed for greener production. The Asian powerhouse was likely to turn to Brazil and Africa, which have more higher grade supplies, he told the AFR Mining Summit in Perth on Wednesday.

Forrest’s comments that China’s move to reduce emissions through less polluting steel-making would lead to a “wasteland” in Western Australia’s Pilbara region were dismissed by Simon Trott, Rio’s chief executive of iron ore. Fortescue is also a major miner of the steel-making material in the hub.

“Every year, people talk about the demise of iron ore and yet here we are,” Trott said in a panel discussion at the conference. “There are periods of time people say that the Pilbara is going to fall off a cliff or come to an end. Each time the industry has responded to what the market needed.”

Trott also allayed worries about global steel demand, saying the world will need more steel in the next 20 years than it did during the past 30 years. However, he did acknowledge China’s incredible growth boom in the last two decades was unlikely to be repeated.

(By Paul-Alain Hunt and Katharine Gemmell)