Fortescue says it has produced first hot metal at its Green Metal Project at Christmas Creek, in Western Australia, marking the first successful operation of its electric smelting process and a major step towards producing green metal in Australia.
The pilot project was built to test new technology and develop a pathway for ultimately producing green metal using Pilbara ore.
Commissioning of the project will continue in stages, allowing the team to safely test, refine and optimise the process before progressing to larger-scale production.
Fortescue Metals Chief Executive Officer, Dino Otranto, said: “This is a significant milestone for our Green Metal Project and another step towards producing commercial-scale green metal in Australia. For decades Australia has exported iron ore to the world. The next opportunity is to create more value from that ore by producing green metal here at home.
“Australia has some of the world’s best renewable energy resources and one of the world’s largest iron ore industries. That’s a competitive advantage we should be building on. If we don’t, other renewable-rich countries will. The real opportunity goes beyond green metal. It’s about building a new industrial economy around Australia’s renewable energy advantage.
“Nobody has solved green metal production using Pilbara ore at commercial scale yet. That’s the challenge we’re taking on.”
First hot metal means the project has successfully produced molten metal in its electric smelting furnace. As part of commissioning, this has initially been produced using a blended feedstock while the facility is progressively brought online.
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