POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo Meets Australian Minister to Discuss Cooperation on Eco-Friendly Future Projects

"Request for Continued Attention and Support from the Australian Government"

Choi Jung-woo, Chairman of POSCO Group, met with Madeleine King, Australian Minister for Resources, to discuss cooperation on eco-friendly future businesses.

Minister King, who visited Korea on the 31st for the Korea-Australia Economic Cooperation Consultation, visited the POSCO Center as her first schedule in Korea and discussed cooperation plans with Chairman Choi in the fields of steel, clean hydrogen, and secondary battery materials.

Chairman Choi said, "The areas of cooperation between POSCO Group and Australia for the common goal of carbon neutrality are expanding. We ask for the Australian government's continuous interest and support."

In response, Minister Madeleine King said, "Australia has maintained a long-standing resource cooperation relationship with POSCO Group," adding, "We will actively support POSCO Group to become a good partner not only in traditional steel raw materials but also in future business areas such as HBI and hydrogen, so that it can lead the global decarbonization era."

POSCO Group agreed on the main terms of site lease with the Australian government last November to produce direct reduced iron (HBI), a low-carbon steel raw material, in Australia, and is currently reviewing business feasibility with major partners. HBI is a product shaped like lump coal made by removing oxygen from iron ore and reducing it to direct reduced iron, which is an essential raw material for producing high-grade steel in electric furnace operations.

The green hydrogen project linked to HBI aims to convert 1% of the reducing agent required for HBI production into hydrogen, with plans to gradually increase the hydrogen blending volume to 10% by 2030.

POSCO Group is also actively promoting investment cooperation with Australia in the lithium sector. POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solutions, completed last November, is a joint venture between POSCO Holdings and Australian mining development company Pilbara Minerals, producing lithium hydroxide for secondary battery materials in Korea based on Australian ore lithium.

On the 1st, Minister Madeleine King visited Gwangyang Steelworks, POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solutions, and POSCO HY Clean Metal, expressing great interest in POSCO Group's secondary battery materials value chain.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.