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Metallurgical Coal

Key stats

5,497 KT

Metallurgical coal production in FY23

Use of metallurgical coal

an icon of a steel girder

Steelmaking

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Coal is a crucial ingredient in the processing of iron ore. Metallurgical coal is heated to create coke, which is then added to a blast furnace with iron ore, producing pig iron. That pig iron is then used to make steel.

Steel is widely used as a strong and low-cost metal, particularly in buildings, infrastructure, vehicles and machinery.

Producing metallurgical coal

South32 produces metallurgical coal at our Illawarra Metallurgical Coal (IMC) operation in New South Wales, Australia.