Former Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto executive Greg Lilleyman has returned to the iron ore sector at a time when soaring shipping costs and big grade discounts are making life hard for the fleet of juniors that have surfed the recent price boom.

Mr Lilleyman has succeeded Stefan Murphy as managing director of Nathan River Resources, the Glencore-aligned company that resumed exports from the Northern Territory’s Roper Bar mine last November.