Greensteel Australia makes a play for brand new hydrogen-powered Whyalla steelworks

Whyalla will make emissions free steel with a hydrogen-powered plant, an Australian firm says, as it throws its hat in the ring with a radical new plan.

Bosses of an Australian company throwing its hat into the Whyalla Steelworks sale ring are meeting key government ministers to spruik plans to build a brand new green plant backed by a team of “industry titans”.

Sydney-based Greensteel Australia already runs a sister company Reosteel that supplies finished steel products to the nation’s construction industry.

Greensteel Australia president and executive director Mena Ibrahim

Its president claimed his company also has committed to buying a new state-of-the-art plant from global industry leader Danieli in Italy that would be hydrogen friendly, potentially putting Greensteel in a box seat to take over the steelworks.

Danieli is the same company GFG Alliance chief Sanjeev Gupta assured was building vital new equipment for the Whyalla steelworks that has now been plunged into administration by the SA state government.

President and executive director Mena Ibrahim said Greensteel Australia believed “there is minimal value” in ploughing more funds into the existing old and deteriorating Whyalla plant and his company’s plan offered support from a “well-capitalised steel manufacturer”.

Mr Ibrahim urged the government to “reimagine the place Whyalla occupies in the Australian steel industry landscape”.

Equipment to build a new mill with world-leading technology was already being manufactured that he said was based on proven technology used at a plant built in Lulea, Sweden, five years ago. It was now producing hydrogen-powered, emissions-free steel.

A Reosteel manufacturing site, sister company of Greensteel Australia. Picture: supplied

Mr Ibrahim believed Greensteel Australia could have the plant up and running in two years, so production at the existing Whyalla Steelworks could then transition to a new site nearby.

Greensteel Australia made the decision to pivot from its existing announced plan to build a hydrogen-fuelled plant in Newcastle after hearing about KordaMentha taking over the Whyalla Steelworks and a $1.7bn government funding package being announced for its future.

SA Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis has said the government will sell off two generators built for its $593m hydrogen plant plan after the funds were diverted to a Whyalla rescue plan.

“We might be a new name to the public but our foundations are anything but new,” Mr Ibrahim said.

Mr Ibrahim said it was critical for Australia’s sovereign steel capability that GFG Alliance “is replaced with another well-capitalised steel manufacturer able to supply the domestic market”.

“The existing plant in Whyalla is old and decaying – we do not believe there is a business case to invest in upgrading the existing plant,” he said.

“The far better course in our view is to scrap and replace it with a new, state-of-the-art mill that is technologically equipped to manufacture emissions-free steel.

“State Government plans for the $600 million hydrogen fuel hub are already drawn up – all that remains is to put the other pieces of the puzzle in place.”

Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis has been contacted for comment.