A truck carrying iron ore moves along a road at the Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) Christmas Creek iron ore mine located south of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, November 17, 2015. Picture taken November 17, 2015.
A truck carrying iron ore moves along a road at the Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) iron ore mine located south of Port Hedland in Western Australia.

In a major restructure move, Perth-based mining company Fortescue will axe close to 700 senior management roles, as the company merges its mining and energy divisions, executive chairman Andrew Forrest has announced.

Addressing the 16,000 staff on Wednesday, Forrest said 700 persons from Fortescue's global operations will be offered redundancies, with the final decisions expected by July end, News.com reported.

"The company has undergone a period of rapid growth and transition, and as part of bringing together Metals and Energy into One Fortescue, initiatives are being implemented to simplify its structure, remove duplication and deliver cost efficiencies," Fortescue stated.

The company added that it remained committed to its goal of achieving decarbonization by 2030.

Fortescue will retain the chief executives -- Dino Otranto in mining and Mark Hutchinson in energy -- but will merge all other senior corporate roles.

According to WA Today, since 2020, the mining magnate has been advocating for green hydrogen as emission-free fuel. Forrest has been touring the world, seeking collaborations with companies and governments that possess areas suitable for generating large amounts of hydropower.

As Forrest learned that producing the energy required to separate water from hydrogen, which was an expensive process, he turned his attention to generating renewable energy at scale. This way, he hoped to revive his ambitions.

In 2023, Fortescue invested in two green hydrogen projects: a plant in Arizona that would produce 30 tonnes of liquid hydrogen in a day, and a AU$223 million investment in a Gladstone plant.

Though Fortescue had initially promoted decarbonizing its operations, recently it had turned to electrification, using renewable energy sources.

Recently, the company has launched feasibility studies in Norway and Brazil.