Pilbara killer squeezes the brains out of Fortescue

Friday 23 October 2026

The Pilbara killer is eating Fortescue. This is from its quarterly update yesterday.

Iron ore sales of 42.9Mt were below shipments, reflecting impacts from ongoing negotiations with China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG).

Hematite C1 unit cost of US$21.98/wet metric tonne (wmt) in Q1 FY27. Higher diesel prices increased C1 unit costs by approximately US$1.40/wmt relative to Q1 FY26.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.