AUSTRALIAN iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest said Tuesday his company is considering possible investments in renewable energy amid the transition in China’s economy.

    “We are incredibly interested in lithium, graphite, copper. We are incredibly interested in renewables, in the recycling of nuclear waste,” Forrest, the founder and chairman of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., said at the Boao Forum for Asia in Sanya, China. “But will we charge off in there without incredibly serious thought? No.”

    Fortescue, the world’s fourth-biggest iron ore producer, is considering diversification as China’s decades-long infrastructure investment boom fades, cutting prices for the raw material that’s its only source of revenue.

    Lithium and graphite are minerals used in batteries for electric cars, while renewables include solar, wind and tidal power generation.

    Producers of lithium raw materials have surged in recent months as supply fails to keep pace with demand and on expectations of a boom in the production of electric vehicles.

    China’s government has pledged to promote new energy vehicles by subsidizing producers, speeding up construction of charging stations and setting quotas for new energy cars in the vehicles bought by public bodies.

    Fortescue won’t move into these sectors “until we’re absolutely certain that we are looking at something that will be another iron ore industry,” Forrest said. “We’re not going to bet our employees’ futures on a whim, so that discipline stays.”

    Spending on renewable energy projects in the world grew 4 percent to a record US$329.3 billion last year, spurred by global regulations designed to curb fossil-fuel emissions. From 2015 to 2024, the market to supply lithium ion batteries for light vehicles may hit US$221 billion, Navigant Consulting Inc. said. (SD-Agencies)