Nippon Steel to invest $850 mil. in Canadian coal firm

Nippon Steel says it will invest in a coal mining company that will be spun off from the Canadian firm Teck Resources.

Nippon Steel says the arrangement will give it a supply of high-quality coal needed for new processes that will lead to carbon neutrality. The steel industry accounts for about 40 percent of all industrial carbon dioxide emissions.

To reduce those emissions, the industry is developing a next-generation process that uses hydrogen to make steel. But that process also needs high-quality coal to produce iron.

The investment will be 1.15 billion Canadian dollars, or about 850 million US dollars and Nippon Steel plans to acquire a 10-percent stake in the new company called Elk Valley Resources.

Nippon Steel aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In addition to the process using hydrogen, it plans to use electrical heat to melt iron scraps, and bury emitted carbon dioxide underground.

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230222_19/