The Razorback Iron Ore tenement is part of a magnetite deposit called the Braemar Iron Formation, which contains some 50 billion tonnes of the mineral.

It’s the centrepiece of South Australian mining company Magnetite Mines’ green steel ambitions. The tenement the listed company controls contains about 2 billion tonnes of mineable ore, and mineral resources at about 3.2 billion tonnes.

Razorback is untapped too. Though Magnetite Mines has owned the site since 2009, it won’t be until at least 2028 until production at the site commences.

That timeframe is ideal though, according to the company’s CEO Tim Dobson, who told InDaily a golden period for magnetite was incoming that would benefit not just the miner, but the state too.

Dobson is plotting a vision for the company that will see it be a major contributor to the state’s green iron future. By capitalising on investments being made into hydrogen production, Magnetite Mines hopes its iron reserves will be part of green steelmaking in South Australia, and exported to the world.

The company is pushing ahead with ensuring these ambitions come to life.

Recently, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Port Pirie Council under which the pair will evaluate the potential of making the region a green iron production hub. The council said Port Pirie was a “natural fit for downstream processing of the abundant magnetite resources of the Braemar iron province”, which is near Magnetite’s Razorback Iron Ore project.

It has a similar MoU in place with the District Council of Peterborough, under which the company and the council will collaborate on projects that support local participation, shared infrastructure development and community engagement with the Razorback Iron Ore project.

Magnetite Mines is planning on mining magnetite at its Razorback project located just 240 kilometres northeast of Adelaide. Photo: Magnetite Mines.

The state government also appears keen on Magnetite Mines. At the Upper Spencer Gulf Major Economic Summit earlier this year, it was made clear that fast-tracking a new green iron industry in the state was of major importance to the Malinauskas Government, and the Braemar Iron Province should play a big role in the industry’s development.

Dobson said the company was on the verge of a new era as it moves to commence iron ore production at Razorback.

“It’s the last two years that things have fundamentally shifted in terms of the economic viability of the project,” he told InDaily.

“It’s in that period that the board has restructured completely, and sought to bring in new management and look for profiles such as mine to bring this project through to development.

“The planets have aligned in the last two years.”

Dobson was appointed CEO in 2022. Prior to that he was CEO of miner Heron Resources, senior vice president for Canadian miner Sherritt International Corporation, project executive at Southern Cross Goldfields and CEO at Anova Metals. In total, he has more than 35 years of experience in the mining industry and with major projects.

Global steelmaking is changing, he said, and the industry knows it needs to decarbonise. The steelmaking process is mostly coal-based, but with renewable-generated hydrogen the process can reduce its emissions significantly.

But very-high-grade iron ore is required for the hydrogen-driven steelmaking process, which is where Magnetite Mines’ huge deposit of magnetite comes in to play, he said.

“We’ve seen steelmakers within our region, particularly the Japanese and the Koreans – which are big steelmakers in our region – actively looking for a new supply chain into this new style of steelmaking,” Dobson said.

“The other thing that’s aligned up is government awareness of the changes that are needed and what it might mean.

“From an Australian lens, it’s an opportunity because we’ve got the things that are needed for that new technology which is renewable energy and lots of magnetite.”

The Magnetite Mines team at Razorback: Simon Smith CFO, Tim Dobson CEO, Gemma Brosnan GM External Affairs, Trevor Thomas Study Director. Photo: Supplied.

Dobson said Premier Malinauskas was “very aware” of this opportunity, and the government had “rightfully decided to take advantage of its renewable energy grid and its renewable energy resources – which are world-leading”.

“What’s the best way to take advantage of that? It’s to embed hydrogen in something we can export and sell, and green iron is the perfect example of that,” he said.

Timing is everything though, Dobson said, and he believes the decade from 2030-2040 will be a golden period for green steel.

That will require green steel demand to ramp up, and the company is watching carefully to see which companies in Japan and Korea are ordering electric arc furnaces required to produce the product, and will therefore need Magnetite Mines’ iron ore.

China is another nation on Dobson’s watchlist, which is a huge opportunity considering the nation produces more than 50 per cent of the world’s steel in-country.

Dobson also recently returned from the Middle East, where he saw appetite for green steel from Saudis who want to shift their industry away from oil over the next two to three decades.

“The combination of the money, the ability to make fast decisions which they have in the Middle East, and the massive amounts of natural gas means the Middle East will emerge as a front-runner in the growth of direct-reduced iron products,” he said.

“All of the steelmakers have an agenda to decarbonise by 2050 along with all other industries and the net zero aspirations of the world under the Paris Agreement.

“In the next five to 10 years we will see the deployment of capital that will lock in supply chain for those companies to meet those decarbonisation agendas.”

One of the major hurdles Magnetite Mines must still overcome is educating the public on the green steel opportunity for South Australia powered by hydrogen. The Malinauskas Government has the same issue too.

Dobson said coal was responsible for 80 per cent of steelmaking’s carbon footprint, and the industry is responsible for about 8 per cent of global emissions.

“That one step of reducing iron oxide to iron is the big culprit,” he said.

“This is where hydrogen can replace carbon and coal and solve that problem, and that’s really the education piece that’s missing.

“We need a lot of hydrogen to do it. That’s the education piece that I think hasn’t been well proffered.”