Blast Furnace 6 Reline

I think this project is vital for the Illawarra region and the people who live in the area..
The reline of a Blast furnace is critical to the longevity of the steelworks and manufacturing in Australia.
The less reliant we are on other countries for steel products the better placed Australia is for the future. Bluescope steel produces the highet quality steel in the world which is in high demand world wide.

I work for BlueScope and therefore can observe first hand the impact a $1 billion investment will have for the better in the Wollongong community in terms of jobs - both directly and with suppliers and contractors supporting the project. Bluescope supports around 10000 jobs already and around 250 new jobs will be created for the reline alone.
In addition there will be a number of upgrades and new equipment built into the BF reline that will improve the environmental impact.
Not allowing the BF 6 reline project will have terrible consequences for employees, suppliers, contractors, the wider Wollongong community and NSW given the economic impact of not being able to continue to manufacture steel locally.
I respectfully request that the BF6 proposal is supported.
Thank you

I believe steel making is vital to the economics of the Illawarra & also plays a major roll to Australia’s ongoing security.

This is a significant contribution to enhancing "sovereign steel making capability".
The execution of this project will deliver world class, blast furnace iron making capability, and provide a socially responsible and significant economic boost to local, regional and Australian based businesses. We at BPS strongly endorse this project to a speedy planning approval.
Regards
David Bridge (CEO)

I support this project for a number of reasons.
1. Additional Jobs
2. New technologies towards cleaner steal
3. Domestic production of Steel products is critical to Australia manufacturing

This excellent project will help ensure the sovereignty of Australian manufacturing for decades to come. It is vital to the economy of the Illawarra region and will support 10,000 jobs.

I support the reclining of No.6 Blast Furnace as it is an integral part of the community and has supported the region for a long time

Direct employment for at least 10000 direct employees. Ensures that the manufacturing of steel remains within the Australian economy, as well as futureproofing for 'green steel' in the future.

The Blast Furnace reline is important to the steel industry in Australia simply because the Blast Furnace 5 is on it's way out. By the time this second Blast furnace is finished we may have the technology for electric steel making.

Important project for the region, state and country.
Integral to the security of steel manufacture within Australia.

This project is fantastic for the illawarra. Jobs and a long term future for the steelworks.
We can't see steelmaking capability leave Australia.

Number 6 blast furnace is fundamental to the operation of the Port Kembla steelworks, both in the near term, and in providing a fundamental means to enable the transition of Port Kembla steelworks, and Australian steelmaking more generally, to zero-carbon steelmaking.
This is for a number of reasons. In its first campaign (1996 -2011), number 6 blast furnace operated at high productivity and low fuel rate (meaning relatively low greenhouse intensity), in fact it operated at higher productivity and lower fuel rate than the current number 5 blast furnace has achieved since 2011 - and 5 furnace is no slouch!
In addition, the relined number 6 furnace will have newer technology that will enable innovations crucial to zero steelmaking - like the use of hydrogen - to be tested, optimised, understood & implemented to progress the transition to zero emissions.
If the project were not to go ahead, not only would there be loss of jobs associated with construction, but it is likely that the steelworks would cease to be viable within a short time. This in turn would curtail the ability to transition to zero carbon steelmaking. It would also needlessly see steelmaking operations move offshore to locations whose greenhouse performance is inferior.
It makes more sense to convert Australian iron ore to steel in Australia than anywhere else on the planet. This is true from an economics/comparative advantage point of view, in an Australia that has the worlds cheapest energy and will have the worlds cheapest renewable energy. This is also true in the global context of pursuing zero greenhouse emissions: it makes environmental as well as economic sense.
The development of the Technology is not only about the technology itself, but about the "human capital" that develops it, enables it, implements it and keeps it running.
That takes years to develop, nurture and hand on to a younger generation, in steelmaking processes whose operating lives are measured in decades. As a Metallurgical Engineer who has proudly worked most of his professional life at the Port Kembla plant, and had the privilege of helping commission, and then operate, number 6 furnace I can speak from personal as well as professional experience. The "human capital" aspect also extends to the training and development of younger Engineers who often start as Cadets, and whose presence at the Port Kembla plant ensures the ongoing safe and improving operation of the plant, which secures thousands of jobs in the area. It also serves to underpin the research and Academic capability at the University of Wollongong. All of this would essentially cease if the 6-furnace reline project were not to go ahead.
Lastly I would add that from the point of view of being a crucial step on the path to zero emissions steelmaking, number 6 blast furnace is not only a state significant project, but a nationally significant project.

From the looks of it, by reclining the blast furnace will create more jobs and also support other businesses directly or indirectly. Bluescope is looking for alternative way to improve the process by reducing the environmental impacts, so it is best to support their cause

I am an employee of BlueScope. I believe the project will be a significant benefit to the community and the nation. The project will allow continuity of employment and the retention of valuable skills in the workforce. The project will principally supply the local Australian market and will prevent the potential reliance on imported steel. I believe the proposed technology is world class, efficient and best available. Implementation of the project at this time should allow a transition to a hydrogen based technology when available.

I believe will play a significant role in securing the ongoing economic position of the Illawarra by directly and indirectly employing 10000 people.

I also believe Bluescope is committed to ongoing improvements to reduce its environmental impact, setting targets inline with or above the international steelmaking industries averages. This is inclusive of assessing the potential construction, execution and operational impacts the 6 Blast Furnace may have on the environment.

The planned upgrades to the 6BF furnace outlined in the EIS document also demonstrate Bluescope's committment to feasible improvement of process in the short term, whilst maintaining the capability to adopt emerging GHG reduction technologies.

This project is key to maintaining Australia's steelmaking sovereignty.

RDA Illawarra supports the Blast Furnace 6 Reline Project as it will ensure the continued $6.5 billion annual economic contribution, which is 24% of our total regional output, that the Port Kembla Steel works makes to the NSW and Illawarra economies.

As long as our society is reliant upon steel and steel products steel will need to be produced. Key to
the steel making process is the processing of iron bearing ores into iron via the blast furnace process. Currently there are few reliable methods of ironmaking apart from the blast furnace process. The intention of this reline is to make the ironmaking process even cleaner and greener than it is now at Port Kembla. So if the public and private sectors do not support this project they can source their clean and green steel elsewhere? Or not?

This project will ensure the employment of 10000 people and give opportunities to young people interested in the manufacturing industry within the Illawarra region.

The announcement of the No.6 Blast Furnace Reline project is an incredibly positive one for Wollongong, NSW and Australia. Having been raised, raised my family and lived in Wollongong for most of my life, I understand the importance of the steel industry to Wollongong and Australia. There are many benefits that an integrated steel manufacturing facility brings. Primarily the training and development for young people, direct high quality employment opportunities, the huge multiplier of BlueScope employees to externally supported jobs (something like four to one), the capital spend and the ongoing operational spend are key benefits that this project will deliver. Those who have worked in all parts of the plant at Port Kembla understand the engineering diversity that such a plant demands - from petrochemical plants, through turbo machinery and power generation, gas fractination, chemical engineer, high speed real time control systems, rail operations and heavy plant just to name a few. This is a very impressive operation run safely by a world class team.

In recent times, with the advent of COVID-19, the increasing influence of China and the war in Ukraine, the realisation of the importance of sovereign capability has been reinforced. Being the only primary flat products and plate producer in the country, there is national strategic value maintaining this significant steel making capability in this country, for defense alone (plate particularly) but also infrastructure and green energy projects. The reality is that there is no practical proven substitution for producing iron, except through utilisation of modern blast furnace technology. The currently operating No.5 Blast Furnace on the BlueScope Port Kembla plant will reach the end of it's operating life in the next 5 -8 years. There is little or no possibility that a viable low carbon ironmaking alternative will be available in this time. Therefore there is no alternative to relining a blast furnace to enable manufacturing to continue on this site for the next 20 years.
It is important to understand that, with this constraint in mind, BlueScope is implementing numerous carbon reduction processes with the relining and upgrade of the 6BF. In parallel BSL is investing money into pursuing "green steel" technologies that will likely replace blast furnaces during the second campaign lifetime of 6BF (following the completion of this project). The BSL engineers also need to solve the challenge of obtaining the required electricity supply and upgrading electricity infrastructure to provide possibly 14 times it's current usage, on top of production and storage of significant volumes of hydrogen. All this will take time and is only enabled by "green steel" technologies being proven viable and commercially competitive. My understanding is that only a total 100T of "green steel" has been produced to date, in the context that BSL current produces about 8,000T of steel every day at Port Kembla from iron sourced from a blast furnace.
In closing this is a vital project, not only for those of us who's careers and livelihood have and continue to be dependent, but also for the sovereign defense of the country. It will bring great benefit to the region. I wholeheartedly support the project and ask that it be approved without delay..

As Managing Director of DBC Group Australia has participated as a local vendor for Bluescope Steel at the Port Kembla Steelworks since 1999. As a local employer I wholeheartedly support the reline project for the jobs it will bring and those it will sustain for our community. This major project is particularly important for the skilled workforce it will help to maintain in NSW. I also acknowledge and support the work Bluescope Steel has done and has proposed in environmental improvements for the project. The No 6 Blast Furnace Reline Project is a large investment in NSW and in the future of steelmaking as a sovereign capability. I believe that steelmaking is of vital importance to the future of this state and in turn this country.