With steelmaking responsible for an estimated 6.7% of global CO2 emissions, steelmakers and investors are looking at ways to reduce these emissions, in the drive for “green steel” and to meet increasing Environmental, Social and Governence (“ESG”) obligations.
One way of reducing emissions is to increase the efficiency of the steelmaking process – this can be achieved by using higher grade iron ore feed, and also by the use of direct reduction (“DR”) furnaces. The latter however require feed with an Fe content of >67%, which cannot be met by the hematite ore which provides the bulk of the seaborne trade, and which generally has grades of between 55% and 64% Fe. Magnetite is the main feed for DR furnaces, with it also being used as higher grade feed for standard blast furnaces. The industry is experiencing decreases in the grade of hematite, as well as restricted supplies of high grade magnetite DR feed, with the latter expected to go into deficit in coming years, with this increasing prices.
