The Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA (CME) welcomes the Federal Government's new Green Iron Investment Fund but stresses Western Australia must be prioritised for support through the initiative.
The Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia was today awarded half of the $1 billion available through the fund, which comes as part of a multi-billion government package to prevent the facility from closing.
CME Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Tomkinson said it was pleasing to see the Federal Government support the South Australian community of Whyalla, but stressed that WA was the sensible choice for funding through the new measure in order to fully embrace Australia's green iron potential and the significant opportunity it creates for jobs, the economy and global decarbonisation.
"Western Australia is already the iron ore capital of the world. It's well established that we are best placed to become a significant manufacturer of green iron," Ms Tomkinson said.
"As the world's leading iron ore producer, we have strong trading relationships with steel mills across Asia that are looking to decarbonise their operations.
"Many of our members have also already invested significant time and money researching and developing prospective green iron pathways, including through partnerships with universities.
"The WA Government has also shown strong support for green iron, most recently through its $75 million commitment to the NeoSmelt project in Kwinana."
The CME's Green Iron report, released in December, found large-scale production of green iron in WA could reduce global emissions by 1.2 per cent by 2050 - effectively offsetting nearly every tonne of CO2 currently produced in Australia.
It would also generate $74 billion in economic value and supporting 19,600 direct jobs.
"WA's iron ore producers appreciate green iron's potential and have taken significant strides towards realising the benefits on offer," Ms Tomkinson said.
"It is vital they are now prioritised for support through this new fund to accelerate the commercialisation of new technologies and processes suitable for WA iron ores since this is the first step in realising green iron opportunities in Australia.
"It is equally important the Federal Government commits to ensuring Australia gets the fundamentals right to maintain and expand our existing mining operations.
"That means speeding up project assessments, driving down energy costs, providing certainty over environmental reforms and repealing productivity-killing industrial relations changes.
"There can be no downstream processing - including green iron - without the mines that supply the raw materials."
