Green Cement Transformation Project

The Hallett Green Cement Transformation Project is the most significant carbon reduction innovation project ever contemplated in the Australian cement and concrete industry.

Hallett Group will construct a sovereign manufacturing capability to process and distribute 2 streams of Australian generated industrial waste by-products into low carbon green cement products utilising established renewable energy sources. With a job creating investment of $125 million split across the regional city of Port Augusta along with new infrastructure in Port of Adelaide the project will reduce Australian CO₂ emissions of 300,000 tonnes per annum immediately, growing to approximately 1 million tonnes per annum in years to come. This amounts to approximately 1% of the entire Australian 2030 CO₂ reduction target.

About the GCTP

Cement is responsible for 8% of global carbon emissions or 3 billion tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) per annum*. Cement is the major constituent material of concrete which is the highest volume construction material consumed globally. Cement is therefore a key component in supporting the economic activity generated by the construction industry. Cement is also used extensively in mining activities such as stope backfilling and underground tunnel support. Australia currently consumes around 12 million tons per annum of cement with around half of this imported in the form of finished (powdered) cement or cement clinker. At a current carbon intensity of 0.87 tons of CO₂ produced per ton of cement this represents a significant carbon reduction opportunity.

Hallett will use existing and proven technology to manufacture supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) that can replace greater than 50% of traditional high CO₂ emitting clinker-based cement. The primary manufacturing operation will be based at Port Augusta, South Australia and will extract and utilise historic waste flyash from the previous Port Augusta power station operations. It will also provide the Nyrstar Port Pirie multi-metals smelter with the opportunity to provide valuable materials into the project and reduce onsite environmental footprint.

The project will immediately replace imports of SCMs and will future proof Australia’s access to SCMs and green cement which becomes increasingly important as Australia’s current locally produced sources of SCM quality flyash diminish in coming years in line with the reduction of coal fired power generation. With existing material reserves and ongoing production offtake Hallett can provide the market with 30 million tons of SCMs over the next 20 years and beyond. This surety of sovereign supply will promote greater uptake of SCM cement replacement and green cement with significant scope to drive down the 12 million tons P/A of high CO₂ emitting clinker-based cement demand in Australia.
*(Ref. “Beyond Zero Emissions” Zero Carbon Industry Plan – Rethinking Cement; 2017)

The Project Elements

Hallett is building an integrated Green Cement business incorporating:

• A granulated slag offtake agreement to consume the existing offtake and reduce current onsite, secured, material of granulated slag produced at Nyrstar Port Pirie
• A flyash offtake agreement to reclaim and process flyash from the legacy ash storage area at Port Playford. Note that reclaimation of this resource will be highly controlled with only progressive disturbance of the area tied to the requirement to achieve zero community dust impact.
• A combined SCM processing facility and Green Cement blending and distribution hub at Port Augusta powered renewable power (Wind & solar). The facility will process SCM products by grinding them or inter-grinding and blending with various activator products sourced through Hallett’s Port Adelaide distribution hub and other sources.
• A Green Cement blending and distribution hub at Port Adelaide combined with import and export capability. The facility will consist of a 52,000-ton cement storage dome, 15,000-ton flexible SCM storage shed and state of the art blending and distribution functionality.
• All the technology, equipment and production processes are off the shelf solutions, with demonstrated performance all over the world. The innovation comes by processing SCMs through a single facility followed by the specialised blending processes to make tailored product solutions for a broad range of applications.

The Market and Logistics Pathways for SA Produced SCMs and Green Cement

With a location close to export ports and volume SCM consumers, Port Augusta is the ideal central processing and primary distribution location for all SCMs and enjoys logistical advantages for both road and rail outbound and inbound transport particularly for mining customers located North, East and West of Port Augusta. Hallett and its partners will from its Port Augusta location accept, consolidate and onward distribute backloaded materials from its customers.

The Port Adelaide hub will be able to supply the entire greater Adelaide market as well as have the ability to export Green Cement products from Port Adelaide. This secondary distribution point with the ability to also import SCMs offers great supply chain risk mitigation, particularly for high-cost mining customers.

Hallett from its 2 distribution points will be able to supply

• Green Cement for use in mining.
• Green Cement for use in construction concrete.
• Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) for use in construction concrete.
• Flyash for use in construction concrete.
• Green Cement for use in geopolymer concrete
• Green Cement for use in other construction and construction product applications
• Green Cement and SCMs for use in road stabilisation

The SCMs and blended green cement products manufactured at Port Augusta will be sold and utilised across Australia with the potential to export green cement products throughout the greater region.

Project Benefits

1. 15 million tonnes of cement replaced completely with SCM can reduce CO₂ emissions by 1,000,000 tonnes becoming a strong contributor to State and National emissions reductions targets.
2. Will deliver long term employment opportunities in the upper Spencer Gulf with the processing facility and associated activities expected to generate >50 full time jobs in operation, hundreds throughout the construction phase and provide extensive work for local service providers and contractors.
3. Contribute to the long term sustainability and community license of Nyrstar at Port Pirie and Port Augusta Operations.
4. Powerful contributor to emission reduction targets and social license obligations of Mining Customers.
5. Significant logistics cost saving opportunity for current incumbent miners and being able to present similar savings to future new mining participants can only assist in enhancing the viability and sustainability of future new mines.
6. The opportunity to set up the Port Augusta processing hub to operate on 100% renewable power. The grinding operation will have the flexibility to manage demand loading during peak demand to enhance overall grid stability and support the increased penetration of renewables into the market.
7. The logistics improvement and carbon reduction opportunities from a Port Augusta hub location are extensive and require further definition. For example, this project could remove 500,000 tonnes of heavy road freight from the Adelaide to Port Augusta route, with consequential emissions reductions, road safety benefits and road maintenance savings.
8. Will assist to secure existing jobs across the most important existing mining and major metals processing operations in SA.
9. Opportunity to engage extensively with indigenous and other community groups for employment and business opportunities.
10. Opportunity to reduce CO₂ emissions from local infrastructure projects including the South Road Tunnels project, which is projected to consume 780,000m3 of concrete @ average 320kg cement per m3. This equates to 250,000 tonnes of cement which if replaced by 50% SA Produced SCM results in a reduction of 110,000 tonnes of CO₂ throughout the entire project versus normal portland cement.
11. Strong alignment and delivery against state, national and international climate change policy objectives.