Fortescue Metals has produced the first hot metal at its Christmas Creek Green Metal Project in Western Australia, marking a milestone for a facility built around a direct reduced iron (DRI) smelting furnace supplied by Metso.
The project, located in the Pilbara region, is testing new low-emission technologies for processing iron ore.
It aims to evaluate how Metso’s technology can turn local iron ore fines into iron through lower-emission routes, moving away from traditional blast furnace methods.
Metso supplied the core design and technology for the project.
Installation of the electric DRI smelting furnace began in September 2025.
Fortescue CEO Dino Otranto said: “This is a significant milestone for our Green Metal Project and another step towards producing commercial-scale green metal in Australia.”
The furnace is designed to produce high-quality iron units with lower emissions.
Metso said it enables iron-making from ore reserves in the Pilbara that have previously been considered unsuitable for direct reduction because of their higher gangue content.
That could widen the range of local ore that is viable for lower-emission processing.
The technology was developed as part of Metso’s Outotec range and uses proprietary equipment to process blast furnace-grade iron ore.
It is intended to support decarbonisation efforts in the steel industry, which remains one of the largest industrial sources of carbon emissions worldwide.
Metso minerals president Piia Karhu said: “The project will provide important learnings as Fortescue works towards developing a pathway for green iron production at scale using Pilbara ore.”
The Christmas Creek installation is positioned as a pilot.
Metso said the furnace is meant to demonstrate both equipment and process features that could apply to industrial-scale operations.
Results from the Pilbara site will help show whether the approach can be scaled up for commercial use.
The furnace works in combination with direct reduction plants.
It is also being tested alongside circular alternating current and direct current electric furnaces at the Metso Research Center in Pori, Finland.
Running trials in both Australia and Finland allows engineers to compare performance across different furnace configurations and ore types.
The first hot metal result is a practical step for Fortescue as it explores ways to add value to the ore it has exported for decades.
Producing iron units domestically from Pilbara ore, rather than shipping the raw material overseas for processing, has been a long-running ambition for parts of Australia’s resources sector.
The Christmas Creek project provides a working test of whether that is technically achievable using local ore that traditional direct reduction methods have struggled to handle.
For Metso, the milestone offers a real-world demonstration of its DRI smelting furnace technology outside the laboratory.
The company has continued to expand its pilot capabilities in Europe as well.
Earlier this month, Metso signed an agreement with the Geological Survey of Finland to engineer and deliver process technology for GTK Mintec’s new pilot plant in Outokumpu, Finland.
Together, the projects reflect growing industry interest in electric smelting and direct reduction as pathways to cut emissions from iron and steel production.
Further results from Christmas Creek are expected to inform how quickly the technology can progress toward commercial deployment.
