The new plant is to process about 200,000 tonnes of recycled steel annually, documents show.
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop on the new steel mill.
Consent has been granted, subject to conditions.
The project aims to reduce structural steel imports, as well as the amount of scrap steel being exported.
Green Steel already has collection yards in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Putāruru and Christchurch.
These yards recover metal resources from end-of-life vehicles, sheet metal and beams.
The project is expected to create about 200 jobs in the region.
New Zealand does not currently reuse steel because most scrap metal is exported, documents said.
The site is 53ha and rural, at 61 Hampton Downs Rd, Te Kauwhata.
National Green Steel is a privately owned company, for which the sole director and majority shareholder is Vipan Garg, a New Zealand citizen.
His wife is the only other shareholder.
Reinforcing steel on a construction site – the new mill is aimed at reducing the need to import steel.
The two are also the shareholders of National Steel, the operator of a major metal recycling operation based in Manukau, with collection yards in other New Zealand locations.
The proposal is that scrap steel collected and processed by National Steel and now exported for recycling will instead be processed at Green Steel’s Hampton Downs site.
The steel will be turned into construction steel, predominantly for the New Zealand market.
To the north, across Hampton Downs Rd, is the Hampton Downs Motorsport Park.
To the northwest on Harness Rd is a WEL Networks substation, a Gull self-service petrol station and the State Highway 1 Waikato Expressway.
To the east is the Enviro NZ Hampton Downs Landfill and, beyond that, the Waikato River, and to the south and southeast is Department of Corrections-owned land and the Spring Hill Corrections Facility.
Scattered around the area are farms and rural residential properties, some of which border the site.
For the steel mill, electric arc furnace technology is proposed to enable the production of high-quality structural steel with a lower carbon footprint than existing steel processing and production methods used in New Zealand.
The ultimate goal is to reduce the need to import steel.
Waikato’s Spring Hill Corrections Facility, near the site of the proposed new steel mill. Photo / Corrections
Two industrial-style buildings 450m long by 100m wide will be constructed at the site.
The project requires 56MW of installed electricity and both WEL Networks and Counties Energy have confirmed there is capacity in either network to supply the site.
The project requires a significant amount of water, most of which will be used for cooling in the steel-making process.
A submission from Waikato-Tainui said it expected all potential effects associated with the new plant would be avoided, remedied or mitigated using the highest standards or measures.
Hampton Downs neighbours the site of the proposed new plant. Photo / John Cowpland
Another submission from Ngaa Muku said conditions had been agreed to.
In assessing the project, Ngaa Muku found its design would assist in achieving the vision and strategy for the Waikato River.
Ngaa Muku and Green Steel have had ongoing consultation during the past two years, which resulted in the establishment of a progressive relationship and greater understanding of the project.
It supported the project as long as conditions were met.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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