Could green iron be Australia's next big export opportunity?

What is green iron?

What if we could make the iron we need, without the emissions that traditionally come with it?

That’s the idea behind green iron.

Green iron is all about changing that by using lower-emissions technologies and renewable energy to produce the iron we need for steel.

And that matters because we need a lot of steel. It’s in our buildings, cars, bridges, machinery and energy infrastructure. But making it comes with a big carbon footprint.

Making steel generates billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year, with much of that coming from making the iron itself.

So the goal is not to change what iron is. The goal is to change how it is made.

Why does green iron matter for Australia?

Australia already has one big piece of the puzzle: iron ore. Lots of it.

For decades, we’ve mined iron ore here and shipped much of it overseas, where it is turned into iron and then steel.

But we have another potential advantage too: renewable energy.

Bring the two together – our iron ore resources and abundant renewable energy – and there’s an opportunity to do more of the ironmaking here in Australia.

Instead of primarily exporting the raw ore, we could turn more of it into a lower-emissions, higher-value iron product here, then export that to steelmakers around the world.

That could mean creating more value from the resources we already have, while helping our customers reduce emissions from steelmaking. For us, it could also help keep our ores competitive as customers change how they make steel.

There’s still a lot to work out before green iron can be produced at scale. But the opportunity for Australia is significant: not just supplying the iron ore, but playing a bigger role in what it becomes next.

How are we working towards it?

We’re not starting from scratch.

At our Green Metal Project at Christmas Creek in the Pilbara, we’re building and testing the technologies that could help turn this opportunity into reality.

It brings together something Australia has in abundance – iron ore – with renewable energy, new technology and existing mining infrastructure. The goal is to learn what it takes to make lower-emissions iron from Pilbara ore here in Australia.

And we’ve already reached an important milestone.

In August 2026, we produced our first hot metal using the project’s electric smelting process as part of comissioning. That doesn’t mean we’ve solved green iron – but it does mean we’ve successfully tested an important part of the pathway.

We’re also building the renewable energy infrastructure needed to support our operations through our Green Grid, including solar, wind, battery storage and transmission.

Because if Australia wants to make green iron at scale, having the iron ore is only part of the equation. We also need the technology, renewable power and infrastructure to make it happen.

Could Australia really make this happen?

The opportunity is big. So is the challenge.

Australia is already one of the world’s great iron ore exporters. But being good at digging up and exporting iron ore doesn't automatically mean we'll become a global green iron powerhouse.

We still have to prove we can make green iron from Australian ores at commercial scale, secure huge amounts of low-cost renewable energy, build the infrastructure to support a new industry – and do all of it at a price that can compete globally.

And we're not the only ones chasing the opportunity.

That's what makes the next few years so important. The Australian Government has identified green iron as a major export growth opportunity and committed A$1 billion through its Green Iron Investment Fund. It cites analysis suggesting a green iron and steel industry could add up to A$96 billion a year to Australia's export revenue by 2040.

That's the size of the prize. But it won't happen just because Australia has iron ore and sunshine.We know something about taking on challenges that look difficult from the outside. We built an iron ore business in the Pilbara by taking on the major players, when many doubted it could be done. Today, we're asking a different question: can we take the resources, infrastructure and capability we've built over decades and use them to help create Australia's next great export industry?

We don't know all the answers yet.

But that's exactly why we're doing the work to find them.

The simple takeaway

Could green iron become Australia’s next big export opportunity? It has the potential to be.

We have some big advantages: world-class iron ore resources, strong renewable energy potential and decades of mining experience and infrastructure.

But potential doesn’t build an industry.

The technology needs to work at scale. The economics need to stack up. Customers need to want the product. And Australia needs to move quickly in a global race for the opportunity.

That’s a big challenge. It’s also a big opportunity – and one we think is worth going after.

Still curious?

Green iron is a big story, and we’re only getting started. Go a little deeper:

What is green iron?

What is hot metal?

Explore the Green Metal Project at Christmas Creek.