Just days after scrapping its Uaroo Renewable Energy Hub plan, Fortescue applied for 150,000 hectares of ‘miscellaneous licence’ land tenements near its iron ore mines in the north of Western Australia.
The company is reportedly planning to use the leased tracts of land to build renewable projects, according to the Australian Financial Review. Fortescue has estimated it will need between 2 GW and 3 GW of renewable generation and storage to meet its 2030 target to cut fossil fuels out of its mining operations.
The applications were filed by Fortescue on October 27, with the land parcels largely covered by broad land use agreements between Fortescue and the Nyamal and Pakyka traditional owners groups.
Despite the nearness of its 2030 target, Fortescue says it has not yet settled on a plan to reach the goal and declined to provide with an estimate the land footprint required. “We have identified multiple areas east of our Iron Bridge [magnetite mine] operation that are potentially suitable to support our decarbonisation plans,” a Fortescue spokesperson told the Australian Financial Review.
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