Australia-based miner Rio Tinto has announced that together with Australian miner BHP Billiton and local steelmaker BlueScope Steel, have selected the Kwinana Industrial Area, south of Perth, as the location to develop the country’s largest ironmaking electric smelting furnace (ESF) pilot plant.
The project will test technology to enable the use of Pilbara iron ore to produce iron without the need for traditional blast furnaces. The pilot plant, which would annually produce 30,000-40,000 mt of molten iron, will initially use natural gas to reduce iron ore to DRI, but once operational, the project aims to use lower-carbon emissions hydrogen to reduce iron ore.
Subject to A$75 million funding from the Western Australian government, the feasibility studies for the project are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2025 and operations are scheduled to commence in 2028.
The companies formed a partnership in February this year to jointly investigate the development of ironmaking ESF pilot plant, as SteelOrbis previously reported. The partnership called the “NeoSmelt collaboration” combines BHP and Rio Tinto’s deep knowledge of Pilbara iron ore, with BlueScope’s unique operating experience in ESF technology.
