Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) is Australia’s “third force” in iron ore mining, with its Cloudbreak and Christmas Creek mine sites the company’s major operations.

In addition to the company’s mining assets, FMG also operates an integrated rail, port and mine supply chain.

History

With the stock having garnered so much attention in the mining shares space over the last few years, it’s hard to believe that FMG was only formed in 2003.

Since then, it has been one of the best performing shares on the Australian market. The company is now an S&P/ASX 50 company and has established itself as one of the world’s largest producers and sea-borne traders of iron ore.

The company most recently had a market capitalisation of more than $20 billion.

While BHP shares and Rio Tinto shares gather much of the media’s attention, FMG has markedly performed both shares over the last eight years.

The company certainly moved quickly. Fortescue’s port, rail and mine project began construction in February 2006 at Anderson Point in Port Hedland.

By 2008, the company’s rail infrastructure was complete and operations were underway Fortescue’s Herb Elliott Port and at the Cloudbreak minesite.

FMG began shipping on 15 May of 2008. Since then, the company has not only been a fully-fledged iron ore miner, but also a fully-fledged rival to the two giants of the Australian iron ore industry, BHP and Rio Tinto.The company’s performance has made FMG one of the leading mining shares to buy.

More to come…

In July 2009, Fortescue announced another 1.23 billion tones of iron ore at its Glacier Valley tenement. Glacier Valley is owned by Fortescue, but part of a joint venture agreement with China’s Baosteel Group Corporation.

More recently, Fortescue Metals Group announced the discovery of more than one billion tonnes of iron ore in Western Australia’s Pilbara.

The new Nyidinghu project is about 35km south of Fortescue’s first mine, Cloudbreak. The resources have an ore grade of 58 per cent iron.

Not only but also…

FMG’s subsidiaries include International Bulk Ports Pty Limited, The Pilbara Infrastructure Pty Limited, FMG Resources Pty Limited, FMG Pilbara Pty Limited, Chichester Metals Pty Limited, FMG Resources (AUG 2006) Pty Limited, Pilbara Mining Alliance Pty Limited, Karribi Developments Pty Limited and FMG North Pilbara Pty Limited.

We have a recently published review of FMG shares also on the site.

We also have previous articles on Fortescue shares after a recent  court case.