Fortescue overshadows announcement with unapproved ‘fast follower’ fawning from Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm
Rio Tinto’s chief executive Jakob Stausholm was shoehorned into a Fortescue decarbonisation press release without approval, forcing an embarrassing retraction.
Fortescue on Wednesday announced it had signed a $US2.8 billion ($4.1b) deal with Liebherr for the supply of zero-emission trucks, excavators and dozers, which curiously included highly complimentary quotes from Rio’s boss.
Rio is not involved in the Fortescue deal with Liebherr.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Fortescue’s partnership with Liebherr marks a turning point in the history of the mining industry,” the quote attributed to Mr Stausholm said.
“It takes foresight and courage to be a first mover, and while we can’t always be first, we can be fast followers”.
Nearly two hours later Fortescue re-issued the press release with a retraction.
“Quotes attributed to Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm were mistakenly included in the Fortescue Liebherr media release. Please disregard these quotes and reach out to Rio Tinto for any comments.”
Mr Stausholm ended up posting a comment about the Fortescue-Liebherr deal on LinkedIn, albeit with a much more subdued tone and no mention of Rio being a “fast follower” or Fortescue being a “first mover”.
“This is a significant partnership for the global mining industry and I congratulate the Fortescue team for taking this bold step to decarbonise their mining fleet,” he said on LinkedIn.
The Nightly understands the now retracted comments were first floated after Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest and Mr Stausholm bumped into each other at a mining conference in Las Vegas this week.
But the proposed quotes drafted by Fortescue’s PR team did not receive the Rio Tinto tick-off and a version with the quotes still included was mistakenly sent out to media.
The deal Fortescue signed with Liebherr encompasses 360 autonomous electric trucks, 55 electric excavators, and 60 battery-powered dozers, representing around two-thirds of the current mining fleet across Fortescue’s iron ore operations in WA.
The announcement also included comments from Mr Forrest and Fortescue Metals CEO Dino Otranto.
