Australian iron ore miner Fortescue has announced that it has produced the first hot metal at its Green Metal Project located at the Christmas Creek mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The milestone represents the first successful operation of the project's electric smelting process. According to Fortescue, molten metal was initially produced using a blended feedstock as part of the commissioning phase. Commissioning will continue in stages to enable the company to test, refine and optimize the process before moving toward larger-scale production.
Fortescue Metals CEO Dino Otranto stated that the development marks another step toward the commercial-scale production of green metal in Australia, adding that the country could generate more value from its iron ore resources by combining them with its renewable energy potential.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, Fortescue approved the Christmas Creek Green Iron Trial Commercial Plant in November 2023 with an estimated investment of US$50 million. The facility was initially scheduled to begin production in 2025 and was designed to produce more than 1,500 mt of green iron annually using green hydrogen and renewable electricity generated from solar energy.
The plant combines Metso's Circored hydrogen-based fluidized-bed direct reduction technology with an electric direct reduced iron smelting furnace. The Circored process can use 100 percent green hydrogen and process Pilbara iron ore fines without pelletization, producing highly metallized direct reduced iron for the electric smelting furnace. The foundations had been completed and the first Metso equipment was installed in September 2025.
Fortescue began commissioning the project during the fourth quarter of the financial year 2025-26 and stated in early August that the first hot metal was expected shortly. The pilot facility is intended to validate the technology and establish a pathway for the future commercial-scale production of green metal using Pilbara iron ore.
