Step 1: Acquire a 50 acre paddock within conveyer distance of the port of Gladstone. Build a mega smelter/steel mill building ( its just concrete & steel) design the world's bigigest steel smelter/steel mill (In conjunction with the CSIRO & Others) Equip with the world's best kilns and automated handling machinery Feed it with WA (shipped) premium Iron Ore & fire it with Qld premium met coals & lime Import the world's best steel rolling mill automated machinery Produce premium steel to meet global demand & market globally via Austrade
Step 2: Develop a steel manufacturing tax free Zone with 100% ( inalienably) Aussie owned businesses using the Mega Smelter as the Hub. Market products globally via Austrade
Step 3: compare /contrast the cost of coastal shipping Iron Ore vs a Pilbera-Longreach railway.
Step 4 : If the railway is economically feasible, then build a second Giant Smelter in Port Hedland and rail Iron Ore eastwards & Met Coals westward (We completed the Adelaide-Darwin Railway (The Ghan) recently so why not a Northern E/W one?. This would make better economic sense than the proposed high speed rail link between Melb & Syd.
The bottom line: That every ton of iron ore (currently worth $100/ton USD) would likely be worth $400 USD export revenue in semi-finished/finished products .( It takes less than 1 ton of Met coal to produce 1 ton of Steel. (India now developing steel smelters/steel mills so why cant we?)
