New Zealand Steel facts for kids
Glenbrook Steel Mill from the mill's lookout
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 Location in New Zealand
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| Built | 1968 |
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| Location | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 37°13′S 174°44′E / 37.21°S 174.74°E |
The Glenbrook Steel Mill is a large factory that makes steel. It is owned by New Zealand Steel Limited. You can find it about 40 kilometres south of Auckland, in a place called Glenbrook, New Zealand.
This mill started being built in 1967 and began making steel products in 1969. Today, it produces about 650,000 tonnes of steel every year. This steel is used in New Zealand or sent to other countries. The Glenbrook mill makes over 90% of all the steel New Zealand needs. The rest comes from a recycling plant in Ōtāhuhu.
Trains bring coal and lime to the mill every day. They also take away the finished steel products. Around 1,150 full-time workers and 200 contractors work at the mill.
What makes New Zealand Steel special is that it uses ironsand to make steel. Ironsand is a type of sand that contains iron. Because this ironsand has some other materials mixed in, the mill uses special machines and methods to turn it into steel.
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How the Glenbrook Steel Mill Started
The beaches on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island have lots of ironsand. This sand contains a mineral called titanomagnetite. For many years, people tried to make steel from this ironsand, but it was very difficult. When they heated the sand, a sticky mess would form and block their equipment.
In 1954, a government science group started looking into how to make steel from ironsand. The New Zealand Government then set up a company in 1959 to study this further.
New Zealand Steel Limited was officially created by the government in 1965. Building the mill at Glenbrook began in 1967. Glenbrook was chosen because it was close to the ironsand mine and a power station.
The mill started making steel in 1968. At first, they used steel from other countries. But soon, they found a new way to turn ironsand into iron. By 1970, they were making their own iron and steel. The mill grew, adding a pipe factory in 1972 and a special painting line in 1982. At this time, they made about 300,000 tonnes of steel each year.
Changes and Growth of the Mill
In the 1970s, the steel company was losing money. But in 1981, they found a better way to get iron from the ironsand. This helped the mill to grow and make more money.
Later, in 1987, a company called Equiticorp bought New Zealand Steel. However, Equiticorp faced financial problems. So, in 1989, a group of companies including Fisher & Paykel and ANZ Bank bought New Zealand Steel.
In 1992, a large company called BHP took over most of the shares. The mill was then called BHP New Zealand Steel Limited. In 2002, it was renamed New Zealand Steel again.
In May 2023, the Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that the New Zealand Government would help the mill with money. This money will help the mill use less coal and reduce its carbon pollution. They plan to add an electric arc furnace. This new furnace will use electricity to melt scrap metal instead of coal.
Getting the Ironsand Ore
The ironsand ore is dug up from an opencast mine at Waikato North Head. This means it's dug from the surface, not underground. After it's mined, the ironsand is mixed with water to make a thick liquid called a slurry. This slurry then travels 18 kilometres through a pipeline to the mill. About 1.2 million tonnes of ironsand ore arrive at the mill each year.
How Steel is Made at Glenbrook
The Glenbrook mill has a special way of making iron from ironsand.
- The iron plant has four large furnaces and four spinning ovens called rotary kilns.
- These rotary kilns heat the ironsand to turn it into metallic iron. This is different from most steel mills, which use huge blast furnaces.
In the steelmaking plant, they also have to remove a metal called vanadium. Ironsand has a lot of vanadium, so it needs to be taken out.
- The mill uses a special machine called a basic oxygen steelmaking facility.
- This machine blows oxygen into the molten metal to remove unwanted materials.
- What's unique here is that oxygen is blown from both the top and bottom of the machine. In most steel mills, oxygen is only blown from the top.
