Fortescue Metals Group Wins Metals Company of the Year: Platts Global Metals Awards

LONDON, May 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), one of the world's largest iron ore producers won the prestigious Metals Company of the Year award at the fifth annual Platts Global Metals Awards, which recognize exemplary performance in 15 categories across the steel, metals and mining complex.

FMG was one of 15 honorees from four continents heralded at the black-tie gala in central London. The event, hosted by S&P Global Platts, the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets, was once again emceed by CNBC's Karen Tso and attended by more than 250 industry executives.

"Under the leadership of CEO Nev Power, Fortescue Metals Group has rapidly risen to become the fourth largest iron ore producer in the world in little over a decade. We congratulate Fortescue Metals Group on this impressive win," said Martin Fraenkel, President of S&P Global Platts. "Each of this year's winners and finalists deserves praise for their contributions to a more efficient, innovative and globalized industry that continues to rise to new challenges."

Fortescue Metals Group won the 2017 Metals Company of the Year title as well as the Industry Leadership Award – Raw Materials & Mining. In reaching its decision, the Platts Global Metals Awards' independent judging panel lauded the company's "strong and clever" leadership. FMG, which won the Rising Star Company Award in 2014, was praised by the judges for "achieving ambitious goals and hitting targets" making the firm one of the industry's strongest and most resilient.

The coveted CEO of the Year award went to Sanjeev Gupta, Chief Executive Officer of Liberty House Group, the U.K.-based steel producer. Judges were impressed by Gupta's track record of successful acquisitions and hailed him as a "motivator" willing to "swim against the tide of pessimism" prevalent in the industry.

Gina Rinehart, Hancock Prospecting Group's Executive Chairman, secured this year's Lifetime Achievement Award, with judges lauding her as "a leader of substance" with a "pioneering drive". Her "bold and ambitious" move to secure $7.2bn in funding to develop the Roy Hill project, this year's Rising Star Company Award winner, was also applauded by the judges.

Aqua Metals, the 2016 Rising Star Company Award winner, continued to impress the judges, this year scooping the Breakthrough Solution of Year for commercializing its AquaRefining technology, a room temperature, water-based process and non-polluting process to recycling lead-acid batteries. The judging panel was impressed by the firm's "strong growth potential" and "global scale".

For full details of the 2017 winners of the Platts Global Metals Awards and the judges' rationale, visit S&P Global Platts' Insight Magazine and the judges' rationale. Following are the 2017 Platts Global Metals Awards winners:

Metals Company of the Year
Fortescue Metals Group

CEO of the Year
Sanjeev Gupta, Liberty House Group

Lifetime Achievement Award
Gina Rinehart, Hancock Prospecting Limited

Corporate Social Responsibility Award
Metinvest Group

Deal of the Year
China Molybdenum Co Ltd

Industry Leadership Award – Aluminum
Emirates Global Aluminum

Industry Leadership Award – Base & Specialty Metals
MMG Limited

Industry Leadership Award – Precious Metals
Dillon Gage

Industry Leadership Award – Raw Materials & Mining
Fortescue Metals Group

Industry Leadership Award – Scrap & Recycling
Nikkei MC Aluminium Co. Ltd.

Industry Leadership Award – Steel
Nucor Corporation

Physical Metals Service Provider of the Year
Jemison Metals

Financial Metals Service Provider of the Year
Singapore Exchange

Rising Star Award
Roy Hill Holdings PTY LTD

Breakthrough Innovation of the Year
Aqua Metals

For additional information, as well as the full list of finalists from which the winners were selected, see the Platts Global Metals Awards website (http://gma.platts.com/).

For information on sponsors and other supporters of the 2017 Platts Global Metals Awards visit: http://gma.platts.com/AboutSponsor.

Nominations for next year's Platts Global Metals Awards will be accepted starting December 2017.

S&P Global Platts will hold its sister awards gala, the 19^th annual Platts Global Energy Awards, on December 7, 2017, in New York City at Cipriani – Wall Street.

About S&P Global Platts

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S&P Global Platts is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.platts.com.

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SOURCE S&P Global Platts