浦项控股澳洲 Port Hedland 低碳 HBI 工厂获澳大利亚联邦附条件环评批准，距 2031 年投产仍有 FID 等多道程序

POSCO Holdings' low-carbon iron processing plant in Port Hedland, Western Australia, has cleared a key permitting hurdle after winning environmental approval from the Australian federal government. With environmental reviews completed at both the state and federal levels, the 4 trillion won ($2.8 billion) low-carbon steel project is set to accelerate. POSCO plans to move quickly on follow-up steps, including a final investment decision (FID) with its overseas partners, before beginning construction in earnest.
The Australian federal government recently granted conditional environmental approval for the first phase of the Port Hedland Iron Project under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act), according to Bloomberg and other outlets on the 19th. In Western Australia, the state environment minister gave final approval in April following a recommendation from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). POSCO has now passed the stringent environmental reviews of both the state and federal governments, gaining momentum toward groundbreaking.
POSCO drew up plans in 2022 to process iron ore locally in Australia to produce low-carbon steelmaking feedstock. In May of that year, the company applied to the Western Australian government to lease a site at the Boodarie Strategic Industrial Area, about 10 kilometers from central Port Hedland, and received allocation approval at the end of December. Total project costs are estimated by the Western Australian government at about 4.4 billion Australian dollars (about 4 trillion won). Using 3 million to 3.5 million tons of Australian iron ore as feedstock, the plant aims to produce about 2 million tons of high-grade hot briquetted iron (HBI) annually for overseas steel mills, along with about 700,000 tons of pellets for export.
HBI is direct reduced iron (DRI) — iron ore stripped of oxygen — formed into briquette-shaped pieces. It is an essential input for producing high-grade steel in electric arc furnaces, and securing a stable supply has become increasingly important during the transition to carbon neutrality. With global trade barriers rising, including Europe's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), locking in low-carbon feedstock has emerged as the steel industry's biggest challenge.
POSCO's Western Australia project aims to use local iron ore to make high-grade reduced iron for use at overseas steel mills. How much of the output will go to mills in which countries has yet to be decided. Demand for HBI is ample, as POSCO plans to build an electric arc furnace steel mill in Louisiana in a joint venture with Hyundai Motor Group, producing 2.7 million tons of high-value steel products annually from 2029.
The project is significant in that POSCO is building a large-scale HBI production base in Australia, the world's biggest iron ore producer, to shore up its low-carbon feedstock supply chain ahead of competitors. POSCO completed a 2.5 million-ton-per-year electric arc furnace at its Gwangyang works in June and has treated overseas HBI, alongside high-grade steel scrap, as a core supply chain strategy since the earliest stages of its electric furnace investment. The project also creates an opportunity to expand its partnerships with Japan's Marubeni and Taiwan's China Steel Corp. (CSC) — co-investors since the early 2010s in the Roy Hill iron ore mine in Western Australia — from simple raw material sourcing into higher-value local processing.
The project aligns with Australian government policy encouraging domestic processing. Australia is the world's largest iron ore exporter but lacks processing facilities, and it has been actively supporting local processing projects to create added value and cut carbon emissions.
Having passed the critical environmental permitting threshold, the project now enters a concrete execution phase. Working procedures — including Indigenous consultations, utility permits, and the participating companies' FID and finalization of the equity structure — will proceed in sequence. Once those are completed, construction is set to begin with a target of first production in 2031.
"This approval covers environmental permitting, and follow-up procedures remain before final approval for plant construction," a POSCO official said. "We plan to pursue the Indigenous consultations, reviews of support measures and partner discussions needed to advance the project."