Western Australia has secured Australia's first green iron plant, beating out competition from New South Wales and South Australia. The $75 million investment will see an Electric Smelting Furnace (ESF) built in Kwinana, utilizing Pilbara ore to produce green iron, the key ingredient in zero-emissions steel.
Western Australia has won a three-way battle with NSW and SA to secure Australia 's first green iron plant. Laying claim to the technology that could crack green steel making in Australia was a tantalising prospect for any state government. They planned to build a furnace capable of turning Pilbara ore into green iron — the feed stock for zero emissions steel.
WA Premier Roger Cook announced on Tuesday his state had emerged victorious and would be investing $75 million to build an Electric Smelting Furnace (ESF) plant in Kwinana, south of Perth. The scale of the investment reflected the WA government's desire to use the project to signal its emergence as a player in the future of Australian steelmaking. The NeoSmelt project will convert ore to Direct Reduced Iron (DRI). It will initially be powered by natural gas before transitioning to green fuel sources such as hydrogen. Mr Cook said proximity to the Pilbara ore reserves and the state's pipeline of renewable projects made it an ideal location for green steel production. 'Downstream processing has been the holy grail for the mining industry in Western Australia for decades,' Mr Cook said. 'They have sought ways that they can add value for our iron ore product to increase the returns for the WA economy. 'Then we are in a position to deploy those at commercial scale, which means Western Australia will be a green iron and green steel producer in the future.' There are only two places in Australia that produce steel at commercial quantities: Whyalla in South Australia and Port Kembla in New South Wales. The NSW Planning Minister and Member for Wollongong, Paul Scully, told parliament earlier this year the state was in competition with the other states. He said Port Kembla was the best place in the country for the furnace, describing it as the 'home of steelmaking in Australia'. 'Forget Western Australia and forget South Australia'
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