Iron-ore major Fortescue’s Christmas Creek Green Metal Project, which features mining technology specialist Metso’s Direct Reduced Iron (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 CEO 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 Metso minerals president Piia Karhu.

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 utilisation of extensive iron-ore reserves for green ironmaking that have previously been considered unsuitable for the DRI steelmaking route owing to their higher gangue content.