McKILLOP： Oil, gas, and steelmaking coal, a foundation for economic resilience
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
152.1992
Summary
Northback is looking to develop the Grassy Mountain Project, a steel-making coal project. This is very different than other types of coal mining of the past, this is not thermal coal, it's metallurgical coal which is used to make steel.
Transcript
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The Grassy Mountain Project aims to supply the crucial resource to global markets,
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positioning itself as a leading player in the industry while contributing to regional economic
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growth. So Northback is looking to develop the Grassy Mountain Project, which is a steel-making
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coal project. This is very different than other types of coal mining of the past. This is,
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it's not thermal coal, it's metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel. And currently
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metallurgical coal, it makes about 70% of the world's steel. So steel has great recycling
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properties. Steel using metallurgical coal is created in a blast furnace, and that's what
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creates about 70% of the world's steel at this time. It takes about 770 kilos to make one tonne
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of steel. But there is still another way to make steel using an electric arc furnace, but that's
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predominantly used to make recycled steel. Opposition groups argue that steel market projections for
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the Grassy Mountain Project are misleading. But let's consider, what is steel really used for?
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Massive industrial wind projects, both onshore and offshore, depend heavily on steel. Add to that
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bridges, ships, trains, high-rises, and you can see how urbanization drives demand. As cities expand
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and infrastructure grows, so does the need for steel, making the Grassy Mountain Project an essential piece
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of that puzzle. So sure, if people stop building cities and wind farms, maybe the demand for steel will decrease.
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I'm Carmen Linderman, and our organization is Citizens Supportive of Crowsness Coal.
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After the coal policy's decision to stop all coal mining and exploration, people started losing their jobs.
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So citizens came together and we made Citizens Supportive of Crowsness Coal. It's a non-profit organization
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that supports the responsible mining of our resources here in the past, which is metallurgical coal.
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So met coal is used for making steel, which we use in everything from wheelchairs to trucks.
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And it'd also be used for making all the windmills and solar panels. So the need for met coal isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
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The demand for steel is expected to increase, according to some studies. And that's something that we would like to extract
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responsibly here at Grassy Mountain. It's available. We can do it responsibly, and then we can reclaim this land
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So we have an absolute inside track on what their requirements are going to be in Japan and Korea going forward.
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It's clear that both within the community and beyond, there is significant opposition to the Grassy Mountain Project.