{"id":548079,"date":"2026-03-18T09:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T09:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/548079\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T09:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T09:52:18","slug":"one-of-australias-first-steel-mills-in-decades-to-be-built-in-ipswich-promising-to-support-economy-and-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/548079\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Australia’s first steel mills in decades to be built in Ipswich, promising to support economy and Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the country’s first steel mills in decades has broken ground in south-east Queensland, promising to supply crucial materials for housing and the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.<\/p>\n

The Swanbank Steel Mill in Ipswich is expected to produce 350,000 tonnes of steel reinforcing bar \u2014 or rebar \u2014 a year from scrap metal.<\/p>\n

Rebar is used to reinforce concrete, and is commonly used in the construction of skyscrapers and major infrastructure including bridges.<\/p>\n

Developer Future Forgeworks wants the project complete in just over two years, hoping to capitalise on an imminent construction boom ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/p>\n

Artist’s impression of the Future Forgeworks steel mill at Swanbank near Ipswich. (Supplied: Future Forgeworks)<\/p>\n

“Our ambition is to 100 per cent supply the Olympic build,” Future Forgeworks chief executive Rohan Richardson said.<\/p>\n

Mr Richardson, who grew up in Ipswich, said once operational the mill could supply 90 per cent of Queensland’s demand for rebar, meaning much less would need to be imported from overseas.<\/p>\n

“Our main premise is to provide the lowest operating cost in Australia and that will take some relief off housing prices and any kind of industrial works.”<\/p>\n

Future Forgeworks is also spruiking the project’s environmental credentials, claiming its production technology can reduce carbon emissions by more than 70 per cent compared with the conventional steel-making process.<\/p>\n

Most of the world’s steel is produced with fossil-fuel powered blast furnaces, accounting for roughly 8 per cent of global emissions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The mill will produce steel bars to be used in construction across the region. (Supplied: Future Forgeworks)<\/p>\n

The Swanbank Steel Mill will use an electric arc furnace as part of an energy-efficient production system designed by German-based metals company SMS Group.<\/p>\n

“In the last decade particularly, the technology has advanced considerably. A lot of the gas that [was] used in the historic process has been removed and replaced with electricity,” Mr Richardson said.<\/p>\n

But the mill is not expected to reach net-zero emissions until 2040.<\/p>\n

All three levels of government are backing the project, excited by its potential for economic development and local employment.<\/p>\n

Future Forgeworks is expecting the project to require more than 400 jobs during construction, and more than 200 ongoing jobs once complete.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Future Forgeworks chief executive Rohan Richardson says the first steel from the mill is expected in 2028.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 (ABC News: Charlie McLean)<\/p>\n

“The fact it’s going to be built here locally and create local jobs is just tremendous \u2026 this is a tremendous win for Ipswich,” the city’s mayor Teresa Harding said.<\/p>\n

“We’ll be using recycled steel from the washing machine to old cars, and that will be used to build houses. It’s just a really exciting story.”<\/p>\n

Ms Harding said the Swanbank area \u2014 home to several waste dumps and the CleanCo power station \u2014 was an appropriate location for a steel mill.<\/p>\n

“It’s been heavily industrial for over 100 years, so it’s the right spot,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Middle<\/p>\n

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding at the announcement of Australia’s first steel mill in 30 years. (ABC News: Charlie McLean)<\/p>\n

She said there were no negative submissions against the development when it went through the council approvals process.<\/p>\n

Mr Richardson said the process of turning scrap metal into steel would result in a byproduct known as slag being created.<\/p>\n

“We’re looking at recycling a portion of that slag \u2014 it can go into road base for road constructions,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The rest will go to our neighbouring industrial partners \u2026 who handle industrial waste.”<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/p>\n

The mill will help replace $2 billion in steel imports between now and 2032. (ABC News: Charlie McLean)<\/p>\n

The project has received financial backing from the federal government’s National Reconstruction Fund and several major banks.<\/p>\n

Queensland’s assistant resources minister Bryson Head said the mill would make the state more self-sufficient by diverting scrap metal from being sent to overseas processing plants.<\/p>\n

“It means steel for our construction sector that we can produce right here in Queensland. Taking scrap metal that traditionally has gone for export for a very long time,” Mr Head said.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

Assistant Minister for Regional Development, Resources and Critical Minerals Bryson Head says the government is backing home grown innovation. (ABC News: Charlie McLean)<\/p>\n

“By making construction materials more available, that’s a supply demand metric\u2026 that in turn will help with the development of homes.<\/p>\n

“We want to make it more affordable for Queensland and access to materials is a key part of that.”<\/p>\n

Future Forgeworks is planning to start training and recruiting its workforce for the project later this year.<\/p>\n

For now it is in first place and ready to proceed with construction, ahead of a suite of low emissions or ‘green’ steel mill projects awaiting approvals across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the country’s first steel mills in decades has broken ground in south-east Queensland, promising to supply…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[271202,64,63,17327,271200,99,29352,13442,181,271203,58988,1474,43669,22530,271204,271205,271206,3810,271199,166515,26674,26484,16191,271201],"class_list":["post-548079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-assisant-minister-for-regional-development","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane-olympics","tag-bryson-head","tag-business","tag-consumer-goods","tag-emissions","tag-employment","tag-future-forgeworks","tag-green-steel","tag-innovation","tag-ipswich","tag-manufacturing","tag-motor-vehicles","tag-queensland-economy","tag-rebar-demand","tag-recycling","tag-rohan-richardson","tag-scrap-metal","tag-southeast-queensland","tag-steel","tag-supply-chain","tag-teresa-harding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}