G'day y'all,
My understanding of Whyalla's woes is the main impediment is degraded infrastructure which is expensive to either rehabilitate or replace. This may also explain a reticence of suitors to become involved.
I wonder if a consortium of, say, BHP, Rio and Fortescue could undertake a joint effort to get the thing up and running again. That would be more viable for Capital Expenditure sources. BHP and Rio have both indicated interest in decarbonising operations, albeit somewhat muted compared to Fortescue's mighty transition efforts.
This could both enable Aussie ownership of a critical industry and facilitate the development of green steel production which will increasingly become essential and in demand over coming decades.
This is just an idea I'm running up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes!
.....I just wanna see Australia slowing the process of selling off the farm to overseas investors and be at the vanguard of a nascent Aussie green steel industry.
Fortescue has proven to be a trailblazer since our inception, long may it maintain this inspiring character trait. The combined, synergistic financial fire-power of our big Iron Ore miners may be able to facilitate the viability and ultimately profitability of an Aussie green steel industry. It would also provide an additional destination for our zero carbon iron ore, and incentivise other iron ore miners to follow suit.
Thoughts, anyone?Wesley T Tiger III
(20min delay)