Both BHP and Rio fulfilled their obligations to investigate downstream iron processing: BHP through their HBI plant in Pt Hedland and RIO through their HISmelt plant in Kwinana. Both failed - as much on economic grounds as technical. No state agreement will ever force a company to lose money.
The world of steel making is very political. Countries see steel making as a sovereign strategic enterprise, with most building a steel industry as soon as their economies allow it. Both the HBI plant and HISmelt failed miserably to enter the merchant pig iron market convincingly for this reason. [BHP and RIO both reasoned that exporting PI, rather than IO, should be more cost effective. Customer mills didn't see it that way and choose to produce their own PI].
No amount of government intervention in an Australian steel industry will change this: all it will do is throw good tax dollars away. On top of this, in spite of supposed access to cheap raw materials, the high cost of doing business in Australia (labour, power, red-green-black tape, etc) would render any indigenous steel plant uneconomic. Study after study has concluded this, to the point that a half dozen proposals over the last 30 years have gained zero traction. It is totally naïve to think a government could do better!
