PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore major Fortescue Metals has launched a public campaign against multinationals operating in the Pilbara, urging “concerned Australians” to sign a petition.

Fortescue said on Sunday that the 'Our Iron Ore' campaign aimed to be a rallying point for Australians concerned by the impact of strategies to grow market share in iron-ore at the expense of Australia’s economy.

The campaign claimed that the Australian economy was losing about A$1-billion in revenue for every A$1 drop in the iron-ore price, saying that this was putting significant pressure on current and future living standards in Australia.

The Our Iron Ore campaign page stated that multinational companies were failing to act in an economically rational way, choosing to oversupply the iron-ore market in the medium term through brownfield expansions rather than ensure their investments did not worsen Australia’s terms of trade.

Fortescue CEO Nev Power said it was in the interests of Fortescue’s shareholders and the broader community to have an informed debate about corporate strategies to deliberately oversupply the iron-ore market, further damaging the industry and the economy.

“The Budget papers reveal A$90-billion in economic activity has been lost to the Australian economy as a result of the fall in the iron-ore price,” Power said.

“Fortescue is concerned at the impact that the fall in iron-ore prices is having on our industry and the broader economy and we don’t understand how Australia could possibly benefit from the strategies to oversupply that market.

“We believe there should be an informed debate to question the clear, repeated statements by the two multinationals that they would deliberately oversupply the market,” he said.

The campaign’s launch comes as the Senate is mulling an inquiry into the economic impact of the iron-ore price slump, and to consider if action is needed to ensure healthy competition in the sector.

Fortescue chairperson Andrew Forrest had previously called for such an inquiry, blaming majors BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto for flooding the market with their Pilbara product, and continuing their ramp-up strategies despite the fall in commodity prices.