— As iron ore expert and Magnetite Mines' (ASX:MGT) Technical Director Mark Eames points out in a white paper released last week, high-grade iron ore is needed to transition to low-emissions steelmaking.

Magnetite requires crushing, screening, grinding, magnetic separation, filtering and drying. The final product is a high iron grade magnetite concentrate (+65% Fe), with typically very low impurities. Further processing produces pellets, which can be used directly in a blast furnace or steel-making plant.

A significant scaling up of global DRI capacity using green hydrogen to reach net-zero emissions in 2050 will require much more iron ore suitable for DRI. Many net-zero emissions pathways for the steel sector foresee much of the decarbonisation process happening after 2030.

 — Whilst electric steelmaking furnaces can be readily decarbonised through renewable power, the most promising options to decarbonise ironmaking are: (i) green hydrogen (H 2)-based direct reduction...

high-grade magnetite with ≥68% Fe grade becomes the preferred feedstock for the steel industry, over the lower-grade hematite. This will necessitate changes to flowsheets to remove carbon footprint. The magnetite concentrates would command a premium in price.

 — Magnetite is enabling a steel technology transition in South Australia. Liberty Steel announced on 4 March it would phase out its existing blast furnace at Whyalla Steelworks and build a new DRI-EAF. It will initially consume natural gas and hydrogen before shifting completely to green hydrogen.

The major benefit of fully autogenous grinding is the elimination of steel grinding media costs and the need to discriminate between steel and magnetite in coarse magnetic separation. The separation step between grinding stages progressively reduces the amount of material to be ground.

June 28, 2022. . Magnetite mining and technology innovations are among potential solutions. Key Takeaways: Switching from blast furnaces that consume coal to green hydrogen-based direct reduced iron processes is widely considered a key step in the global steel sector's decarbonisation pathway. .

 — CITIC cited independent analysis suggesting using magnetite rather than hematite iron ore resulted in a 180-kilogram carbon emissions saving on every tonne of steel produced.

 — The push to reduce carbon emissions will see a change, where green high-grade magnetite with ≥68% Fe grade becomes the preferred feedstock for the steel industry, over the lower-grade hematite. This will necessitate changes to flowsheets to remove carbon footprint.