South Korean steelmaker POSCO plans to build a hot briquetted iron (HBI) plant with a capacity of 12 million mt per year at Australia’s largest iron ore terminal Port Hedland and to use it for its domestic production in South Korea in order to cut emissions and increase its competitiveness in the global green steel market, according to local media reports.
POSCO has inked a 50-year lease agreement with the Western Australian government for a site within Port Hedland, which is considered to be the optimal shipment for HBI production thanks to its geographical position. The new plant, which will consist of six stages producing 2 million mt each, is scheduled to be built in 2025 and start production in 2028. The company will reduce magnetite iron ore into pellets and then into HBI and to ship HBI to South Korea for steelmaking. If the project operates at full capacity, POSCO would triple Australia’s current HBI production.
As SteelOrbis reported previously, HBI production is not POSCO’s first attempt to head towards green production. The South Korean company is also developing HyREX technology that produces iron from iron oxide using hydrogen as a reduction agent, which will replace the company’s existing blast furnace method in its steel complexes.