Liberty Steel's Whyalla steelworks celebrates coke oven closure

Albanese was joined by South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas to mark the closure of the coke ovens and the company’s implementation of hydrogen-Direct Reduced Iron and Electric Arc Furnace technology.

Executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta said the business was very proud to be working with forward-thinking governments on its green steel transformation.

“We’re extremely grateful to the Federal and South Australian government for their support and encouragement, and we look forward with confidence to delivering our green steel vision with them as partners on this journey,” Gupta said.

Gupta also praised coke ovens’ workers after the historic final push on September 15 2023, signifying the end of producing coke from metallurgical coal on site for use in the blast furnace.

“After an incredible 55 years we must pause to recognise the vital role the coke ovens played at the steelworks and the incredible contribution of the highly skilled workers who were a part of this era,” Gupta said.

“Coal based steelmaking has helped to build the modern world but it is now time to rethink and reengineer how the steelwe make can continue to build our world going forward. It is an incredible testament to our values that 100% of the cokeovens workforce have chosen to continue with the business in alternative roles and to be part of the transformation.”

Gupta added that Whyalla was the ideal place to usher in the next generation of green steel making technology.

“With our reserves of over 4 billion tonnes of high-quality magnetite ore and South Australia’s natural blessings of windand solar energy, there is no better place to usher in the next generation of steel making technology based on cleanenergy and green hydrogen.”

GFG Alliance announced in April 2023 an EAF had been ordered and would replace the existing coke-fed blast furnace.

Coke will be imported for use in the blast furnace until the installation of the EAF.