Australian green iron invention heads to US as plans for biggest plant advance

An Australian invention designed to boost green iron production is heading to the United States after its creators discovered an export market by chance. 

But the company plans to save its first large-scale unit for Australia and what could be the nation’s first commercial green iron plant. 

Mining technology firm DryFlow Magnetics revealed the milestone at its Adelaide facility on Tuesday, showing off a machine capable of processing 20 tonnes of iron ore per hour. 

The announcement comes days after a Climate Energy Finance report warned Australia must accelerate green iron and steel production or risk the value of its iron ore exports, and after the federal government launched a $1 billion investment fund to support early projects.

Green iron is produced using renewable energy, such as solar, wind and hydrogen, and could cut 90 per cent of emissions from the steelmaking process.

But its creation requires high-grade iron ore, which is often extracted using large amounts of water. 

The modular unit built in Adelaide instead separates high-quality iron using patented magnets, and can produce iron with a 67 per cent purity that is needed to produce green steel. 

The company made a 20-tonne unit to test its process, DryFlow Magnetics chief executive Brett Boynton said, but found a buyer for the machine when contacted by US Iron.

“We didn’t expect the interest from offshore,” he told AAP. 

“We know that there’s iron being produced in other countries – obviously Australia is the dominant player so we’re focused on the Australian market — but in the US there’s a structural deficit in iron.”

The Australian machine would be used in the Mojave Desert, Mr Boynton said, where operators do not have water to spare to process high-quality iron.

The company had completed engineering work on a larger commercial machine for Peak Iron Mines’ Hawks Nest project outside Coober Pedy, he said, which could deliver Australia’s first green iron plant. 

“We’ll build a 200-tonne (iron-processing) unit and we’ll run that for three to six months in a validation program on site in real-world conditions and … we’re going to roll out a fully integrated, 1.5 million-tonne-per-annum green iron plant,” he said. 

“As far as we can see, that’s going to be the first commercial scale green iron operation in Australia.”

Almost 20 green iron projects are underway in Australia, including seven at the scoping stage, although none have reached a final investment decision. 

The projects include the Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia that is in the final stages of a sale process and has been nominated by the federal government to become a green iron facility.  

Australia is the world’s largest iron ore provider but its $120 billion export market could be put at risk, according to a Climate Energy Finance report, if it fails to invest in green steel and iron.

AAP