ArcelorMittal breaks ground on low-carbon emissions steelmaking project

ArcelorMittal, in the presence of the governments of Canada and Ontario, has broken ground on its CAD$1.8 billion investment decarbonisation project at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco plant in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

The project, a partnership between ArcelorMittal and the governments of Canada and Ontario, which was first announced in July last year, will play an important role in ensuring the Company makes progress this decade with its decarbonisation efforts and is part of ArcelorMittal’s target to reduce the carbon intensity of the steel it produces by 25% by 2030.

It also demonstrates the power of public and private partnerships to accelerate progress, which are vital if the target of limiting the average global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees is to be achieved. The governments of Canada and Ontario having committed CAD$400 million and CAD$500 million respectively to the overall project cost.

The project will fundamentally change the way steel is made at ArcelorMittal Dofasco, transitioning the site to direct reduced iron-electric arc furnace (‘DRI-EAF’) steelmaking, which carries a considerably lower carbon footprint and removes coal from the ironmaking process. The new 2.5 million tonne capacity DRI furnace will initially operate on natural gas but will be constructed ‘hydrogen ready’ so it can be transitioned to utilise green hydrogen as a clean energy input as and when a sufficient, cost-effective supply of green hydrogen becomes available.

The ceremony took place at ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s site in Hamilton and was attended by: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne; Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, Filomena Tassi; Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Karina Gould; ArcelorMittal Chairman, Lakshmi Mittal; and ArcelorMittal Dofasco President and CEO Ron Bedard.

Source and Photo: ArcelorMittal