DryFlow Magnetics has secured up to A$48.4 million in grant funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) for a first-of-a-kind commercial demonstration project in South Australia. Supported under ARENA’s Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund, DryFlow will design, construct and operate a 1.5 Mt/y plant that upgrades magnetite iron ore into the high-purity iron concentrate needed for low-emissions steelmaking pathways.
DryFlow says its breakthrough is doing this without process water and with significantly lower energy use compared to conventional water and energy-intensive methods, providing a solution to unlock Australia’s vast water-stranded iron ore resources. It argues that this project has the potential to help Australia move beyond bulk ore exports into higher-value feedstocks for future iron and steelmaking.
DryFlow CEO Brett Boynton said: “Iron ore exports have been the driving force in Australia’s economic growth. Our next nation-building opportunity is to value-add Australian ore into the high-grade feedstock needed for future low-emissions steel. DryFlow is creating that pathway at industrial scale, helping Australian miners stay competitive in future steel supply chains, capturing more value and building jobs here at home.”
“DryFlow has reached this point because a lot of people and organisations had the courage to lean in early. The South Australian Government backed us when this was still a laboratory-scale technology, CSIRO helped validate the science, and ARENA is now helping us take the next major step into industry.”
It adds that this is a proudly South Australian innovation story, backed by CSIRO and the South Australian Government, with equipment to be manufactured in Adelaide.
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