BlueScope Steel to reline Port Kembla blast furnace

Responding to criticism, the company has said that the decision to reline the furnace will not lock the company to coal-based steelmaking for the next two decades.

The steelmaker confirmed its board had approved the reline of the number six blast furnace in Port Kembla to replace its current blast furnace.

The project was initially estimated to cost between $700 million and $1 billion, however the steelmaker has updated the cost to about $1.15 billion.

Following pressure to abandon the reline due to the heavy environmental impacts of blast furnaces, chief executive Mark Vassella confirmed there was no other technology on the market that could maintain the plant's output as its current blast furnace reaches its end-of-life later this decade.

"We see no alternative between now and late 2026 when we need number six ready to blow in and start producing iron for us, that is clear from our perspective,’’ Vassella said.

"There are not technologies which are commercially viable to replace the blast furnace so, we are building a bridge to the future. This allows us to continue to grow and generate the profits that will allow us to invest in the newer technologies, the lower emissions steelmaking technologies as they emerge."

The new blast furnace would have a ‘campaign life’ of 20 years, however, Vassella said it did not mean BlueScope was committed to using coal to make steel for the full period.

"What we are really signalling there is the world is changing, there is no question and steelmaking technologies are emerging,’’ Vassella added.

"We have set a net-zero goal but have been really clear that what we need in Australia to support that are enablers around renewable energy, hydrogen, raw materials."