H2 Green Steel has entered into two multi-year agreements with Vale and Rio Tinto for the supply of direct reduction iron ore pellets to its steel plant in Boden, northern Sweden.

Vale will supply H2 Green Steel with iron ore pellets as input material for its steel plant in Boden. Vale is a Brazilian mining company and the world’s largest supplier of direct reduction pellets.  

H2 Green Steel has also signed an agreement for direct reduction iron ore pellets from Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) which will account for a significant part of the iron ore supply to the company’s steel plant in Boden. Additionally, the companies have signed an agreement whereby Rio Tinto will purchase and on-sell a part of the surplus low-carbon hot briquetted iron produced by H2 Green Steel during the ramp-up of its steelmaking capacity.  

Steelmaking currently contributes to around 8 per cent of global carbon emissions. Iron ore in pelletized form is, along with green hydrogen from H2 Green Steel’s own electrolyzer facility, critical input materials for the green direct reduced iron production which will be used to make near-zero emissions steel in the steel plant in Boden. The process of direct reduction of iron ore using green hydrogen and a fully electrified process achieves a CO2 reduction of up to 95 per cent compared to the conventional steelmaking process using coal and coke in a blast furnace.  

One step closer to decarbonise the steel industry

“This is a significant milestone for H2 Green Steel and the project in Boden. With these agreements, we are securing a supply of high-quality iron ore needed for our green steel production. It takes us one step closer to decarbonise the steel industry”, says Carl-Erik Lagercrantz, vice chairman of H2 Green Steel.

H2 Green Steel’s first-of-its-kind fully integrated, digitalized, and circular plant is expected to start operations in 2025. It will be the first large scale production of green steel globally. The site in Boden in northern Sweden, will hold one of the world’s largest electrolysis plants for green hydrogen production.