80% of energy needed for steelmaking comes from coking coal and the remainder from electricity, oil & gas.
As yet there is no substitute for coking coal according to the CEO of Bluescope in his recent presentation to the Press Club.
On the other hand, aluminium smelting exclusively electricity in the smelting process and this is why it is often refered to as solid electricity.
It is quite tragic that very existence our two steelmills, Bluescope & One Steel is on the line at a time when we need more secondary processing of our resources and the labour benefits that these industries bring.
It seems absurd to see shuttlecars of molten aluminium in Gladstone being poured onto pig moulds and shipped overseas when we could mould all kinds of automotive and industrial products while the alumina is liquid and then machine the products locally before export.
I suppose we'll have to wait for the Chinese to buy out the smelters and show how its done once the CO2 tax renders them uneconomic and worth 2 bob!. Moorookamick
