Global investment firm Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners is backing a Queensland-based green iron project which could use hydrogen produced by a 2.5GW project in the Australian state.
© Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners
Quinbrook has partnered with Central Queensland Metals (CQM) which holds the exploration permits for a large magnetite deposit in Gladstone, dubbed Eulogie, to sponsor detailed evaluation and testing.
If Eulogie is viable, Quinbrook hopes the estimated 465 million tonnes of ore “with attractive characteristics for low-cost extraction,” could be turned into green iron using green hydrogen.
If the $3.5bn Gladstone Green Iron project is developed, it could offtake green hydrogen produced by Stanwell’s 2.5GW Central Queensland Hydrogen Project (CQ-H2).
CQ-H2 plans to initially install up to 640MW of electrolysers for commercial operations in 2028, with a final investment decision due in 2024. Under Stanwell’s original plans, hydrogen produced by the site would be purchased by offtakers and converted to ammonia and liquid hydrogen for export.
Quinbrook has already secured exclusive rights over land adjacent to CQ-H2 and says it is engaged in joint venture discussions with Stanwell on both hydrogen supply and renewable power to support CQ-H2 and the Gladstone Green Iron project.
The investor has highlighted the potential of exporting green iron, utilising existing rail infrastructure through to Gladstone Port.
David Scaysbrook, co-founder and Managing Partner of Quinbrook, said Gladstone had all the fundamentals for a “world-class” green iron project.
The investor’s involvement comes soon after the Australian government announced an AUD $6.7bn green hydrogen production tax credit scheme, offering producers up to AUD $2/kg of hydrogen.
Aimed at reducing the cost gap between green hydrogen production and market prices, the scheme came as a central element of the government’s AUD $22.7bn “Future Made in Australia” package to promote Net Zero and domestic manufacturing.
“This is exactly the type of project the ‘Made in Australia’ and critical minerals policies of the Federal and Queensland State Government are designed to support, and the recent Federal budget announcements have given us and our partners the confidence to get on with it,” Scaysbrook said.
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