Why is the FMG share price in the spotlight?
Shares in mining giant Fortescue Metals are nearly flat over the last 6 months but are amongst the most traded stocks today.
Shares in iron ore major Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) are among the top traded and best performing shares on the ASX on Friday.
The stock is up 2.8% at $18.70 at the time of writing. By comparison, mining rivals BHP (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) were trading 1% and 2% higher respectively.
Why is the FMG stock price in focus today?
Some of Fortescue's gains, like those of its mining peers, are due to the recent strong run in iron ore prices, which have now climbed more than two-thirds from their lows in November, to currently trade at US$156.35 a tonne.
But Fortescue shares are also likely on a high following the surprise announcement by the company late Thursday that it has hired Reserve Bank of Australia's deputy governor Guy Debelle as the next chief financial officer of its Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) subsidiary, which is focused on a green energy push.
The appointment of a top RBA official, who was seen as a likely successor to current governor Philip Lowe, underlines Fortescue's focus on transforming itself from a major iron ore miner to a renewable energy and resources company.
"Bringing in someone of Dr Debelle's economic credibility goes to the heart of our vision for FFI. Not only are we committed to arresting climate change, we are also committed to creating economic growth, increasing jobs and growing our business profitability," Fortescue's billionaire founder Andrew Forrest said in a statement to the ASX.
Green push
Fortescue has made a spate of announcements in recent months indicating the vast economic potential that it sees in the green energy sector at a time when global decarbonisation efforts have been under the spotlight.
The company earlier this month completed the US$221 million acquisition of UK-based Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), which will provide technology and expertise in high-performance battery systems, and help lower maintenance costs and accelerate the decarbonisation of its mining operations.
FFI has also announced the construction of a green energy manufacturing centre at Gladstone in Queensland with an initial capacity of 2 gigawatts at its electrolyser factory.
It has signed initial agreements with JCB and Ryze Hydrogen to potentially become the UK's biggest supplier of green hydrogen, with plans to produce 15 million tonnes a year of the green fuel by 2030, and 50 million tonnes a year in the next decade.
In addition, FFI is also looking to develop 7 hydropower projects and 11 geothermal energy projects in Papua New Guinea to generate renewable energy for the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia.
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