Generation Steel has announced a new east coast supply partnership and plans to add a $40 million cut and bend facility to its proposed Collie Green Steel Mill in Western Australia, expanding the project’s manufacturing capacity and lifting its estimated value to $850 million.
In a media release, the company said it has partnered with reinforcing steel fabricator Stride Reinforcement to supply Australian-made, site-ready reinforcing steel (rebar) from the planned Collie steel mill to construction customers in Victoria.
It also announced the addition of an in-house cut and bend facility in Western Australia that is expected to supply 100,000 tonnes of project-ready reinforced steel annually to the state’s construction market.
According to Generation Steel, the Collie project will be Western Australia’s first steel mill and the first new steel mill built in Australia in 35 years. Scheduled to begin operations in 2028, the facility is expected to produce 450,000 tonnes of ultra-low emissions steel each year using 100 per cent Australian recycled scrap steel and 100 per cent renewable energy.
Generation Steel said it has also signed memoranda of understanding with construction companies Lendlease and Laing O’Rourke.
Generation Steel co-founder and executive director Don Johnston said the agreement with Stride Reinforcement marked the beginning of further expansion.
“By partnering with strong, Australian-owned independents like Stride, we can reliably supply genuinely local, low-emission steel to construction projects right across the country,” Johnston said.
He said Australia currently relied heavily on imported reinforcing steel, adding that greater domestic production could strengthen supply chains.
“Cash and capital that could have been reinvested has instead drained away from Australian industry. This exposes Australia’s major construction projects to risk, price volatility, and sudden supply disruption,” Johnston said.
Generation Steel’s newly appointed chairman Enzo Gullotti said the agreements with major builders reflected industry confidence in the project.
“What we are building is a model for the next generation of Australian industry, and this vision is already being validated by the commercial market,” Gullotti said.
The company said the Collie mill will be Australia’s first electric arc furnace steel plant to combine continuous casting and rolling technology, which it said would improve energy efficiency and production costs.
Generation Steel co-founder and executive director Raj Aggarwal said the project comes as Australia’s manufacturing sector faces changing market conditions.
“Reinforcing steel in Australia is at the centre of three macro forces: pressure on supply chains in the face of geopolitical shifts, a lack of investment in new mills, and the emergence of technology which reduces energy use and emissions while improving cost and capability,” Aggarwal said.
“Meeting these pressures requires a profound change in how we think about manufacturing investment, and sovereign resilience.”
The company said the project is expected to support 500 jobs during construction and 250 ongoing manufacturing positions in Collie, as the region transitions from coal-based industries.
Johnston said the development aimed to provide long-term industrial employment for the local workforce.
“As Collie’s coal industry recedes, we are offering real, long-term, high-skill industrial jobs for the local community,” he said.
Aggarwal said strengthening domestic steel manufacturing would help support Australia’s future infrastructure needs.
“By creating a secure, energy efficient domestic supply chain, we can ensure that the next generation of Australian infrastructure is built on foundations we make ourselves,” he said.
