MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 19, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Australian iron ore mining company Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (Fortescue; B/Positive/--) are unaffected by the company's announcement that it has board approval to expand production at its Pilbara operations to 155 million tonnes per annum for about US$8.4 billion. Although we view Fortescue's expansion program as aggressive, we believe the company should be able to use its experience in the Pilbara region to benefit the program. In addition, we expect that the risks associated with the expansion program will be adequately mitigated at the 'B' rating level. Furthermore, we note that the company has undertaken to ensure sufficient liquidity exists to provide safe
