Liberty Steel’s Whyalla site has announced it will retire its blast furnace and up capacity with a more emissions friendly electric arc furnace by 2025.
In February 2023 BlueScope announced the likely $1 billion relining of its currently mothballed No. 6 blast furnace (6BF) at Port Kembla in New South Wales and two decarbonising initiatives: an agreement with Rio Tinto to explore low emissions steelmaking and Shell to pilot an industrial scale 10 MW electrolyser, hydrogen direct iron reduction furnace and iron smelter at Port Kembla, and support for the development of a hydrogen hub in the Illawarra.