Building the world’s greenest iron plant in Quebec - with hydrogen MELODIE MICHEL REPORTER Energy and Mines
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lackrock Metals is planning to build an iron, vanadium and titanium (VTM) mine in Chibougamau, Quebec, and plans to use green hydrogen at its metallurgical plant at the Port of Saguenay. With construction about to begin and operations expected to start in 2024, Blackrock Metals CEO Sean Cleary believes that it is very possible that green hydrogen will be integrated into the metallurgical plant from day one, depending on how the cost of this resource evolves. In this interview, he tells Energy and Mines about what led the company to develop such ambitious hydrogen plans and how exactly it will be used. Energy and Mines: Tell us about your VTM project and how you plan to use green hydrogen? Sean Cleary: Blackrock Metals is an integrated mining and metals project. We are building a mine in Chibougamau, Quebec, where we’re also installing a concentrator to produce about 1 million tonnes of VTM concentrate per year. We will ship that by rail to our metallurgical complex, which is being built at the port of Grande-Anse in Saguenay, about 350 km from the mine. At the metallurgical plant, we will pelletize the concentrate and put it through a direct reduction (DR) plant to produce three different products: 500,000 tonnes of nodular iron per year, 120,000 tonnes of commercial titanium slag, and around 40,000
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ENERGY AND MINES MAGAZINE
