What is green iron metal?
Iron and steel are different products. Steel is made by combining iron with other elements to enhance its properties.
Green iron metal refers to the iron made using environmentally friendly and sustainable methods.
Traditional iron production relies heavily on metallurgical coal and coke in blast furnaces, which release significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2).
In contrast, green iron employs alternative technologies and energy sources to minimise CO2 emissions. The primary goal is to achieve carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative iron production.
Our goal is to become one of the world’s leading green iron metal producers
We’re working closely with our customers and partners in China on our plan to provide more than 100Mt of green iron metal to China each year, helping to eliminate more than 200Mt of carbon dioxide emissions.
This will require huge amounts of green hydrogen. We will need 8Mt of green hydrogen just to create 100Mt of green iron metal.
Green metals for a greener planet
Dr Andrew Forrest AO
Executive Chairman
Our Christmas Creek Green Metal Project
The Christmas Creek Green Metal Project represents a significant step forward in Fortescue’s ambition to produce green iron metal at a commercial scale in the Pilbara.
It will use renewable energy and green hydrogen reduction technology together with an electric smelting furnace to produce high purity green iron metal that will be suitable for use in almost any steel plant globally.
The project is expected to produce more than 1,500 tonnes per annum of green iron metal, utilising green hydrogen produced at our existing hydrogen facility at Christmas Creek, located at our Chichester Hub in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Locating the pilot facility at Christmas Creek allows Fortescue to demonstrate a ‘green pit to product’ supply chain, with the Company’s green mining fleet able to be paired with green ironmaking. The ironmaking technology for the Project will support Fortescue’s magnetite and hematite ores.
Converting Pilbara iron ORE into green metal
At our Innovation Centre in Perth, we’re developing a low-energy direct electrochemical reduction process (LEDER) to convert Pilbara iron ores into green iron metal.
The technology being developed is an iron ore electrolyser designed to use intermittent renewable energy to produce green iron feed for steelmaking using low temperatures.
The LEDER process is an alternative electrochemical pathway for iron ore reduction, avoiding use of hydrogen gas.
In our Perth Innovation Centre, we demonstrate low grade Pilbara goethite and hematite ores can be converted to a high-grade iron for steelmaking without use of hydrogen.
Direct connection of the LEDER process to intermittent renewables, and use of low temperatures ensures that the conversion of iron ores can be achieved utilising lower energy than alternative conversion pathways.
