POSCO to produce low-carbon steel raw material in Australia

South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO has launched a project in Australia to produce hot briquetted iron (HBI), an essential raw material for the adoption of electric furnaces.

Australia is a key partner country in which POSCO Group has invested over 4 trillion won ($3.1 billion) in resource development.

The company on Monday said Kim Yong-soo, POSCO's purchasing and investment director, from Feb. 8-10 visited Perth, Western Australia, for talks with the state's Deputy Premier Roger Cook, Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Energy, Corrective Services and Industrial Relations Bill Johnston, and Development WA Chief Operations Officer Dean Mudford.

In working-level talks that were follow-ups to discussions last month on new business cooperation between Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan and POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-Woo, Kim sought cooperation and support for his company's HBI project in the state.

HBI removes oxygen from iron ore to produce direct reduced iron that is converted into briquettes and pressed and reprocessed into a shell-like shape. This is a key material in the production process for high-grade steel using electric furnaces.

In December last year, POSCO received allocation for a site at Western Australia's Boodarie Strategic Industrial Area after filing in May an application for a land lease with the state government. The HBI project will start full-scale production after remaining procedures such as licensing are finished.

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com