eBusiness Weekly
News24.com
Global mining giant, Anglo American, said on Tuesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Swedish hydrogen and steel producer H2 Green Steel in order to work together on the advancement of low carbon steelmaking processes.
The agreement includes studying and trialling the use of premium-quality iron ore products from Anglo American’s Kumba mines in SA and Minas-Rio mine in Brazil as feedstock for H2 Green Steel’s direct reduced iron (DRI) production process at its Boden plant in Sweden, the company said in a statement.
Steel production by DRI is a technically proven production method estimated to be significantly less carbon intensive than the traditional blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace integrated steelmaking process. When using green hydrogen as a reducing agent, the process can be made largely CO2-free.
“Collaboration with industry leaders who share a vision for decarbonised steelmaking is central to our commitment to reduce emissions in our value chains,” said CEO of Anglo American’s marketing business Peter Whitcutt in a statement.
“Our work with H2 Green Steel will focus on exploring ways for premium, responsibly produced iron ore from our operations to be used as feedstock in the Boden plant’s low carbon production process, paving the way to a cleaner, greener way to produce steel – one of the backbone materials for the roll-out of energy transition infrastructure and for ongoing global socio-economic development.”
Luisa Orre, chief procurement officer, H2 Green Steel, said: “Our purpose is to decarbonise hard to abate sectors, and this is only possible with strong partnerships along the value chain with a true commitment to reducing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. We are impressed by Anglo American’s efforts to bring high-quality iron ore products to customers which focus on low-carbon iron and steelmaking, and we look forward to continue working with them, not only for our first green hydrogen integrated steel plant in Sweden but for other future locations globally.”
H2 Green Steel was launched in 2021 to accelerate the decarbonisation of the steel industry by using green hydrogen, said Anglo. “The company is developing a fully integrated, digitalised, and circular DRI plant in Boden, northern Sweden, which will produce green steel, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 95 percent compared to traditional steelmaking.”
The founder and largest shareholder of H2 Green Steel is investment company Vargas.
Anglo American’s ambition for 50 percent Scope 3 emissions reduction by 2040. Its shares were up 0.21percent to R594.07 in morning trade on Tuesday having lost about a quarter over the past year.
