Fortescue’s Green Metal Project with Metso’s DRI technology successfully produces first hot metal in Australia

Fortescue’s Christmas Creek Green Metal Project, featuring Metso’s DRI Smelting Furnace technology, has produced its first hot metal in the Pilbara, Western Australia. The project marks an important milestone for Fortescue and Metso in developing a pathway toward producing green metal from Pilbara iron ore using new low-emission smelting technologies.  

“This is a significant milestone for our Green Metal Project and another step towards producing commercial-scale green metal in Australia. For decades Australia has exported iron ore to the world. The next opportunity is to create more value from that ore by producing green metal here at home,” says Fortescue Metals Chief Executive Officer, Dino Otranto. 

Metso contributed the core smelting design and technology for the project with its electric DRI Smelting Furnace. The technology is being tested for its potential to enable the use of Pilbara iron ore fines in lower-emission ironmaking routes. Installation of Metso’s equipment commenced in September 2025.  

“We congratulate Fortescue on this significant step forward. The production of first hot metal at the Christmas Creek Green Metal Project demonstrates the role of Metso’s DRI Smelting Furnace technology in advancing lower-emission ironmaking. The project will provide important learnings as Fortescue works towards developing a pathway for green iron production at scale using Pilbara ore. We are proud to support Fortescue in this pioneering work,” says Piia Karhu, President, Minerals at Metso. 

Breakthrough technology supporting low-emission ironmaking 

Metso’s DRI Smelting Furnace technology offers a route to producing high-quality iron units suitable for downstream steelmaking with lower emissions than conventional blast furnace routes. The technology has been developed to unlock the utilization of extensive iron ore reserves for green ironmaking that have previously been considered unsuitable for the DRI steelmaking route due to their higher gangue content.  

More information about Metso’s Outotec® DRI Smelting Furnace is available on Metso’s website. - Opens in a new window

Further information:  

Timo Haimi, Senior Sales Manager, Smelting, Metso, tel. +358 40 128 7722, email: timo.haimi(at)metso.com 

Kim Michelsson, Director, Product Group DRI & Ferroalloys, Metso, tel. +358 40 551 5511, email: kim.michelsson(at)metso.com 

Metso Media Desk, tel. +358 20 482 1930, email: media(at)metso.com 

Metso is a frontrunner in sustainable technologies, end-to-end solutions and services for the aggregates, minerals processing and metals refining industries globally. We improve our customers’ energy and water efficiency, increase their productivity, and reduce environmental risks with our product and service expertise. We are the partner for positive change.  

Metso is headquartered in Espoo, Finland. At the end of 2025 Metso had close to 18,000 employees in around 50 countries, and sales in 2025 were about EUR 5.3 billion. Metso is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki. 
 
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