Our goal is to be a great Malaysian mining company: Fortress Minerals CEO

For Malaysian mining and iron ore producing company Fortress Minerals, the industrial boom since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic has been good for business. The firm supplies iron ore to steel mills to make various products, and currently sells over 600,000 wet metric tonnes (WMT) of iron ore per year. 

“We are in the close vicinity of two major steel mills in Malaysia which gives us significant advantage including cost saving by means of logistic optimisation. The said mills and the industry in general are increasing their production capacity because of the surge in demand after the pandemic. There is an increasing need for iron ore, especially high-grade ore, our specialty as the industry sees growing focus on decarbonisation. The demand is so high that we can’t keep up,” says Fortress Minerals executive director and chief executive officer Ivan Chee.

He believes that this voracious need for steel will be sustained in the long run, driven by the material’s usage in the growing global construction, manufacturing and automotive sectors. “For those two steel mills, increasing capacity is a long-term investment. This means that their careful calculations and demand forecasts, not just for Malaysia but also Asia at large, justifies it.”

With these trends in mind, Fortress Minerals is ramping up its own production capacity. In May, it commissioned two new ball mills, core equipment required to produce iron ore concentrate. Next year, it will begin constructing a new, larger and more advanced crushing plant that is designed and equipped with technology to support scalable operations.

With the acquisition of the Mengapur polymetallic mine in 2021, Fortress Minerals has diversified from iron ore to include copper in its portfolio. Copper is in high demand globally as the metal required for the transition into clean energy and green technologies including electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines. Currently the Mengapur project produces iron ore from its top soil layer. Fortress Minerals will build an integrated copper, iron and iron sulphide processing plant in the near future. It also has two exploration assets in Sabah where it is exploring the potential for significant copper and nickel deposits, another vital material in sustainable technologies. 

Chee explains: “This diversification into copper is in line with our company vision, which is to find and go into strategic materials that are likely to be in high demand for the upcoming 10 to 20 years. Copper is a good strategy, with the shift towards electric vehicles, renewable energy installations and other environmentally-friendly technologies worldwide.”

Moves to modernise mining

Alongside these strategies, the firm is focusing on innovation and modernising mining. Chee says: “Even before we became the first iron ore miner to list on the Singapore Exchange in 2019, we already had our mines for some time. Some of our machines are not as efficient as they need to be now. That’s why we’re changing them, as well as how we do some things.”

For example, the new crushing plant will feature state-of-the-art equipment and technology. These upgrades, as well as its size and location, will help the company to optimise operations, cut transportation and other costs, minimise manpower needs and reap other benefits. “We can uphold our safety standards and become more efficient at the same time.”

“With the new and larger machines, we can take advantage of SCADA systems. We can harness automation to minimise human error. With years of uptime data that we have collected over the years, we can deploy predictive maintenance plans to replace parts before they break down. This will increase our uptime.”

He adds that the firm is constantly on the lookout for potential improvements. “We go to conferences and learn about better mining methods, and think about how to incorporate the latest technology to make work safer and elevate us to the next level. In the end, that’s what innovation is really about: utilising what is available around you to become better.”

The same principle applies to its workforce. Chee shares that, besides boosts from technology, Fortress Minerals has raised its efficiency simply by encouraging departments to communicate more with one another. “Our work is interdependent. When everyone knows what to expect, things go more smoothly. We also place emphasis on leaders passing down their knowledge.”

The company has prioritised recruiting and retaining talent too. This has included hiring mine geologists to map its mines and carry out other tasks to help ensure a consistent extraction of ore, and exploration geologists to support its search for new mining sites in the region. Both have been critical to its success and progress. 

Building a great business

Ultimately, Chee aims to build Fortress Minerals into a great Malaysian mining business. “We want to be one of the go-to companies, not just for the government when they need a mining firm to lead their projects, but also for the local job market. We want to be the first choice for people when they graduate from mining engineering, geology or other relevant studies.” 

He says that the company has a solid foundation from which to achieve this ambition. “Most mining firms in the region are not full-fledged ones like us. We do exploration from the ground up. We do geophysical surveys. We develop projects, mine, process the ore and supply the material to mills. Most of our competitors are not so comprehensive in their scope of work.”

While the mining sector has a fraught relationship with sustainability, Fortress Minerals has committed to a range of eco-friendly practices, such as planting trees and replenishing plantations in its mining areas to restore the natural habitat of mined land. “Our upgraded plants will also use less electricity. We want to have a more sustainable future in Malaysia.”

He highlights: “When you look at our core values, integrity is the first. We are accountable for the things that we do, and we believe in empowering people in the communities that we operate in, including by hiring them. We want to share our prosperity, not just with shareholders, but also with all the stakeholders around us, especially those in the community.”

About Fortress Minerals Limited (SGX: OAJ) 

Fortress Minerals Limited is principally in the business of exploration, mining, production and sale of iron ore of low level of impurities. The Group is enhancing its production capabilities and expanding its mineral resources at the Bukit Besi mine. It is also developing a new integrated processing plant at the CASB mine and advancing its prospecting efforts in Sabah through various phases of mineral exploration. Fortress Minerals Limited (OAJ: SGX) has been listed on the Catalist Board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”) since 27 March 2019. 

The company’s website is https://fortress.sg

About kopi-C: the Company brew

kopi-C is a regular column by SGX Research in collaboration with Beansprout that features C-level executives of leading companies listed on SGX. These interviews are profiles of senior management aimed at helping investors better understand the individuals who run these corporations.

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