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Fortescue’s (ASX: FMG) first commercial sale of copper concentrate treated using its proprietary arsenic-removal technology could represent an important step in the miner’s efforts to build a copper business capable of diversifying its iron ore-dominated earnings.
The company has sold more than 40 tonnes of copper concentrate processed using its Toowong technology, which reduced arsenic concentrations from as high as 7 per cent to below 0.25 per cent.
While the commercial sale is modest in scale, the technology could have broader implications for Fortescue’s copper ambitions, potentially improving the economics of difficult deposits while creating opportunities to commercialise the process across the industry.
The development comes as Fortescue faces growing questions about how it will establish a second major earnings stream alongside its highly profitable Pilbara iron ore operations.
ETF Shares chief investment officer David Tuckwell recently told Australian Resources & Investment that copper represented the company’s most credible diversification opportunity.
“Yes, I think copper is the most credible route. I think Andrew Forrest thinks that too,” Tuckwell said.
Fortescue’s record 201.3 million tonnes of iron ore shipments in FY26 demonstrated the continuing strength of its core business. However, unlike diversified rivals BHP and Rio Tinto, which are increasingly benefiting from substantial copper earnings, Fortescue remains overwhelmingly dependent on iron ore.
The company’s acquisition of Alta Copper has strengthened its copper portfolio, particularly through the undeveloped Cañariaco project in Peru.
Fortescue is now testing its Toowong technology on concentrate from Cañariaco, where arsenic removal could improve concentrate marketability, increase mineable inventory and support a more flexible, lower-cost development plan.
Fortescue Growth and Energy chief executive Gus Pichot said the technology could address one of the copper industry’s major processing challenges.
“This technology has the potential to make high-arsenic deposits more economically viable, addressing major processing challenges and eliminating emissions at the same time,” Pichot said.
“This is a technology that Fortescue will consider using itself as we explore copper deposits globally. It could also be hugely important for the industry and our peers more broadly as well.”
Acquired from Core Resources in 2022, the patented Toowong Process uses low-temperature, low-pressure hydrometallurgical treatment to remove arsenic from copper concentrates.
Across seven processing campaigns and more than 3000 operating hours at its Brisbane demonstration plant, Fortescue has reduced arsenic concentrations to below 0.3 per cent while retaining more than 99.9 per cent of the copper.
The process could provide an alternative to conventional roasting, which requires substantial energy and infrastructure investment.
For Fortescue, the potential strategic benefit extends beyond processing technology.
If successfully deployed at industrial scale, Toowong could help unlock copper deposits that might otherwise face prohibitive processing costs or restrictions on concentrate sales.
It could also offer opportunities to provide processing technology to other producers, although Fortescue has yet to establish a commercial licensing business.
The challenge remains converting these opportunities into meaningful earnings.
Fortescue’s copper ambitions are still at an early stage, and the Toowong Process must demonstrate its commercial economics at industrial scale.
Nevertheless, the technology adds another dimension to Fortescue’s diversification strategy, potentially positioning the company not only as a future copper producer but also as a supplier of processing solutions to an industry confronting increasingly complex ore bodies.
For investors, the longer-term question is whether innovations such as Toowong, combined with projects including Cañariaco, can help Fortescue establish copper as a meaningful second earnings engine alongside iron ore.
Read more: What comes next for Fortescue beyond iron ore?
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