The company announced the decision Monday. 

The scope of work includes the furnace reline as well as a number of other upgrades and improvements, such as an overhaul of the cooling, gas and hot blast systems, an upgrade to the water treatment plant, a new slag granulation system, and installation of waste heat recovery system and a top gas recovery turbine. 

The furnace is to be commissioned in mid to late 2026. The company said the project does not lock it into a 20-year coal-fired blast furnace campaign. 

“Implementing the reline and upgrade project allows us the necessary time to develop, test and pilot alternative viable lower-emissions ironmaking pathways. It also recognises the practical reality of the time frames required for the establishment of the critical enablers to lower-emissions steelmaking,” the company said. 

The project was estimated to cost between AU$700 million and AU$1 billion, but inflation pushed the estimate to AU$1.15 billion. It is the largest infrastructure project in the company’s history, according to reports.