Australian miner Fortescue said on Thursday it plans to order between 300 and 400 zero-emission 240-tonne dump trucks from China’s XCMG as part of its updated decarbonisation strategy, complementing an existing fleet deal with Liebherr.
The agreement builds on a November 2024 contract between Fortescue and XCMG for more than 100 battery-electric mining machines, including loaders, bulldozers, water trucks and graders, worth around $400 million. Those vehicles are scheduled for delivery by 2030.
Fortescue in September 2024 also signed a £2.8 billion contract with Germany’s Liebherr to supply about 360 autonomous dump trucks, 55 electric excavators and 60 electric bulldozers. The company said Thursday it remains committed to the Liebherr deal and that at least half of its future dump truck fleet will come from the German-Swiss manufacturer.
Under the new contract, XCMG will provide up to half of Fortescue’s future dump truck fleet. Fortescue cited a range of 300 to 400 vehicles for delivery between 2028 and 2030, though XCMG in its own statement put the figure at 150 to 200 units. XCMG described the order as China’s largest export contract for green mining equipment to date.
In May, XCMG deployed 100 fully electric and autonomous mining trucks at the Yimin open-cast coal mine in Inner Mongolia, a fleet developed with Huawei software. It is not yet clear whether the trucks supplied to Fortescue will be based on this model or operate autonomously.