$19.8m grant secured by BlueScope, BHP, Rio Tinto, Woodside, Mitsui joint venture
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The news: The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has awarded a $19.8 million grant to an electric iron smelter joint venture that brings together BlueScope, BHP, Rio Tinto, Woodside and Mitsui Iron Ore development.
The numbers: The $19.8 million grant will support the delivery of a $48.8 million front-end engineering design study for an electric smelting furnace pilot plant, which will be based in the Kwinana Industrial Area south of Perth.
The context: The NeoSmelt project aims to develop an electric smelting furnace for use in a lower-emissions process that could replace the traditional blast furnace, which uses large amounts of coal, in the steelmaking process.
The pilot plant will use natural gas to reduce iron ore before it is turned to liquid iron in the electric smelter. In the long-term the project intends to use hydrogen instead of natural gas.
A final investment decision on the project is expected in 2026 with the aim to begin operations in 2028.
The grant is being delivered under the $400 million Industrial Transformation Stream of the government's $1.9 billion Powering the Regions fund. The Western Australian government committed $75 million to the project in December 2024.
What they said: “The Albanese Labor government is backing business across the country to seize the opportunities of a Future Made in Australia, powered by low-emissions tech including reliable renewables,” Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.
“We are getting on with the job and delivering solutions for hard-to-abate sectors to decarbonise right now and paving the way for our future.”
