-- Vast heaps of crushed brown rock hem the Indian Ocean at Western Australia’s Parker Point port — each a stockpile of 200,000 tons of iron ore, ready to be poured into a procession of bulk carriers bound for Asia’s steel mills.Everything Apple Plans to Launch at Oct. 30 ‘Scary Fast’ Mac Event
“Australia’s ore industry is now at the start of a long-term structural decline,” said Tom Price, a London-based analyst at Liberum Capital Ltd. “It’s a fundamental shift that will resonate across the Australian economy.” It’s an energy-intensive activity and one that produces about two tons of carbon dioxide for each ton of liquid steel, according to Rio.
“The premium for higher grade material is going to increase significantly,” said David Cataford, chief executive officer of Champion Iron Ltd., a competitor to Australian producers which supplies higher-grade iron ore from Canada. “If you’re producing lower grade, we do feel it’s going to be more complicated in the medium-term.”
To plug the gap and hold on to their position in the market, Australia’s iron ore producers are experimenting with everything from microbes to straw, in a series of trials aimed at making their materials suitable for greener steelmaking. BHP is studying use of carbon capture technology at conventional steel mills and has a pilot with Hatch Ltd. to build an electric smelting furnace — a method that adds an additional process step and holds potential to utilize lower-grade raw material.
“Australia has got everything going for it to make its own steel,” Forrest said earlier this month in Perth, citing the country’s solar and wind resources, and potential to produce green hydrogen. “The policies right now channel against doing that — and encourage offshore production.”