Mining and Heavy Industries

Plans for new mega steel plant at Whyalla

GFG Alliance chairman Sanjeev Gupta has outlined plans for a 10 million tonne per annum steel plant at Whyalla, alongside a $600 million investment to expand the plant in the short term.

The Whyalla steel plant was acquired by GFG midway through last year after former owner Arrium went into administration.

At a ceremony on Monday, attended by prime minister Scott Morrison, opposition leader Bill Shorten and South Australian premier Steven Marshall, Gupta announced contracts had been signed to grow capacity at the steel mill by 50 per cent, from 1.2 million tonnes to 1.8 million tonnes per annum.

One contract was signed with Italian firm Danieli, which will supply a new, state-of-the-art rail and structural heavy section mill. The other was signed with CISDI Engineering for a pulverised coal injection plant. Together the deals are worth more than $600 million.

But in the longer term, Gupta outlined his plans for a next-generation mega steel plant for Whyalla.

“Our cutting-edge transformation plans for our existing steel plant are just the beginning of what GFG Alliance has in store for the region,” Gupta said.

“Utilising almost perfect local conditions – our own infrastructure including a deep-sea port; rich local resources; and unrivalled community passion – we now plan to build a new steel plant, one of the world’s largest, right here in Whyalla.”

The plant, which Gupta calls ‘Liberty Next-Gen Steel’, will be built to produce 10 million tonnes of semi-finished steel per annum, with the ability and infrastructure to double that capacity over time.

The project would focus on producing products like slabs, blooms and billets, which can be exported to downstream operations.

“Using the most advanced technologies and our own local resources, we will aim to be one of the most competitive steel producers globally.”

Premier Steven Marshall said GFG’s plans represented a “fantastic future” for Whyalla, a city of just 22,000 on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula.

Whyalla’s city council estimates GFG’s plans will see that figure rise to 80,000 by 2040.

“We really want to thank and acknowledge the hard work of Sanjeev Gupta, the GFG Alliance and the management team,” Marshall said, “and the work they’ve put in over the last 15 months to come up with this incredible transformation agenda for this very important city in our nation.”

Prime Minister Morrison called Whyalla “the comeback city of the turnaround state”.

“It was just over two years ago when as treasurer, working with the then-Prime Minister and Rowan Ramsey and the team here, that we were going through the very difficult administration process,” Morrison recalled.

“At that time we stepped up with around $50 million in loans, we stepped up with the rail steel project to ensure that there was the suppliers there and the businesses there that enabled the steel plant to be able to continue.

“We’re going into the next phase, the transformation of the plant, which will mean it has a long-term future.”

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