WA magnetite players join forces

According to the group, the magnetite sector has the potential to offer enormous economic and social benefits.
The Magnetite Network (MagNet) was unveiled to an audience of leading Chinese political and steel industry leaders at a conference held by the Australia China Business Council in Beijing.
MagNet’s four founding members are Pilbara miners Atlas Iron and CITIC Pacific Mining, plus the MidWest’s Extension Hill and Karara Mining, the joint venture formed by Gindalbie Metals and China’s AnSteel Group.
MagNet executive director Megan Anwyl said the Australian magnetite industry stood to generate billions of dollars in export revenue, enormous royalties which would help pay for vital State Government services such as hospitals and schools, as well as thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
“The development of WA’s large-scale magnetite projects have the potential to deliver massive gains to Australia; not least is the significant infrastructure investment that for our member companies alone totals more than $9.6 billion.
“With an estimated 8,600 new jobs in the construction phases as well as annual export revenue in excess of $6 billion, we think the importance of the magnetite projects are crucial to Australia’s long-term iron ore industry,” Anwyl said.
While the global magnetite industry is well established, with large-scale projects in the USA, China, Europe and New Zealand, it is relatively new here in Australia, where it accounts for less than 3 per cent of total iron ore produced, with hematite ore making up the rest.
“It’s also important to understand that the jobs multiplier effect is massive because the whole value adding process is so intensive - for example, the huge numbers of steel balls in mills that are made in Australia will generate extra jobs for Australians in the manufacturing sector. This is in addition to the operational jobs on site at the mines,” said Anwyl.
One of MagNet’s key objectives will be to educate and inform Australians about the potential benefits of magnetite mining. It will also seek to play a pivotal role in shaping Government policy and regulatory outcomes.
While the processing of low-grade magnetite ore into magnetite concentrate creates higher carbon emissions when compared with hematite products in the early, energy intensive phase, the carbon emissions saved from the use of magnetite concentrate later in the process - as a feedstock to the steelmaking process - more than offset this increase, according to MagNet. Effectively, this provides a net global reduction in carbon emissions per tonne of steel compared with hematite ore.
“Many people wouldn’t realise that along with all the other socio-economic benefits and value adding that occurs with onshore magnetite mining and processing, it also provides this net global carbon reduction effect, mainly due to the more efficient nature of downstream processing which takes place in Australia,” Anwyl said. “Magnetite mining in Australia is essentially a win-win in both an economic and environmental sense.”