CISDI wins prime role in Liberty’s game-changing steel plans Down Under

—Whyalla upgrading begins and feasibility study for mega plant is launched

Two major transformational steel projects got underway at the Whyalla Steelworks in Southern Australia during December.

A feasibility study began for a new 10 million-tonne mega steel plant at the site, which would be one of the largest in the world.

In addition, upgrades started at the site’s existing pulverised coal injection plant. Both projects are being heralded as game-changing for the city of Whyalla 400 kilometres north-west of Adelaide.

They are being carried out by GFG Alliance’s global steel manufacturing arm Liberty Primary Steel, with assistance from CISDI.

GFG Alliance is an international grouping of businesses founded by the British Gupta family. Its business model encompasses mining, energy generation, metals and engineering, underpinned by financial services and a substantial property portfolio.

Liberty Steel’s range of manufactured products comply with national and international quality-certified standards and meet stringent customer specifications.

The newly-signed financing feasibility study will assess proposals for a greenfield 10-million-tonne capacity steelworks, which will be sited beside the existing 1.20-million-tonne plant in Whyalla City, and become a major slab supply base.

Proposals are for the development to be carried out in three phases, each with an output capacity of 3.50 million tonnes a year.

The new steelworks will feature three blast furnaces, each with a volume of 4,350 cubic metres, four 250-tonne basic oxygen furnaces, five slab casters plus sintering, coking and plant-wide utilities plants.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended the signing ceremony for both projects, along with Australia’s Labour Party leader Bill Shorten, the governor of South Australia Steven Marshall.

The mayor of Whyalla City, Clare McLaughlin. GFG’s executive chairman and CEO Sanjeev Gupta and president of Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. Mengxing Zhang were also present.

Mr Gupta shared his story of coming to Australia to build a steel plant and expressed his confidence in MCC and the future success of Whyalla.

He commented: “This transformation will vastly improve the operational, financial and environmental performance and the new steelworks will pave the way for Whyalla to become an enticing, global hub for innovative industry and contribute to the development of the city of Whyalla and to the whole Australian economy and society.”

“MCC represents state-of-the-art steel engineering and its corporation, and CISDI is highly capable of providing the full-process and intelligent solutions for our plant.”

The city’s mayor welcomed the scheme. “With GFG committed to prioritising local skills, this project will create thousands of additional construction jobs and several hundred ongoing jobs,” commented Clare McLaughlin.

MCC’s Mengxing Zhang emphasised that steel was MCC’s core business and was expecting the highest standards from its subsidiaries. “Your work is a reflection of China’s steel skills and you will be utilising the most advanced concepts and expertise for the creation of a steelworks which will be a world-class benchmark for green, efficient and smart steel manufacture,” he told his teams.

This is CISDI’s first export of full-process steel engineering to a developed country and its second feasibility study project for a 10-million-tonne steelworks in the Pacific Rim. It will showcase CISDI’s bespoke design and financing feasibility expertise.

Leaders of GFG Alliance and China Metallurgical Group Corporation at Whyalla

The signing ceremony between GFG Alliance and MCC-CISDI

CISDI’s team, working at Whyalla Steelworks