The US-Israeli war on Iran has all but stopped shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil and gas prices higher and tightening the supply of diesel, a main transport fuel for the mining sector.
"A 10-cent change in the price of diesel impacts us by $70-million," said Dino Otranto, metals and operations chief executive officer at global miner Fortescue, in an interview on Monday. "If you look at our competitors, the top four, every 10-cent movement has a half a billion US dollar impact on the cost structure."
The company gets most of its fuel from Southeast Asia, but was "comfortable" with current fuel stocks, he said, as long as the war in Iran does not escalate.
The world's fourth-largest iron-ore supplier has set some of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets among Australia's major miners, which Otranto said had helped it save fuel costs.
