Australia hasn't built a new steel mill in more than 30 years. Greensteel Australia is about to — a $500 million all-electric plant on the old BHP site at Mayfield, producing 600,000 tonnes of rebar a year from the first quarter of 2028. Patrick Buchan, Greensteel's Head of Government Relations, joins James MacDonald on the Danieli technology being built in Italy right now, the policy shift that made onshore steel viable again, why Newcastle beat the rest of the country for the site, and what 200 jobs means for the Hunter.

In this episode:

• The $500 million investment and what it buys — an all-electric mill on Industrial Drive at Mayfield North, the site BHP ran until 1999.
• Why the technology is the story: an electric arc furnace running at around 1,000 degrees, supplied by Danieli of Italy. "No gas, no flame, no chimneys."
• 600,000 tonnes of rebar a year — the critical input to Australian construction and housing — with a growth path into other steel products.
• The policy shift: faster approvals, Future Made in Australia incentives, and why both the federal and NSW governments moved.
• Sovereignty as the argument — oil, steel and microprocessors as the three inputs a country of 28 million can't afford to import.
• How Greensteel started: owners Meena and Romana Ibrahim couldn't get rebar for their own construction businesses through COVID, so they built a steel company.
• Why Mayfield — buildings long enough for a 400-metre rolling line, rail, power and roads, and an intergenerational steel skill base.
• The jobs: 200 direct roles, recruitment opening early 2027, Danieli training included, and no formal-qualification barrier.
• What's next — a stage two in advanced discussions for another New South Wales site, and a ground-breaking with "a very notable political figure."

Patrick Buchan is Head of Government Relations at Greensteel Australia, the company building a $500 million all-electric steel mill at Mayfield in Newcastle — Australia's first new steel plant in more than three decades. Before Greensteel he spent four years on the policy staff of the US Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon, across the Obama and first Trump administrations.

Greensteel opens recruitment for the Newcastle mill in early 2027. Patrick Buchan on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/patrick-buchan-56830b124

Chapters

0:00 Cold open

1:03 Welcome to Engineering in the Hunter

1:56 Patrick's path from Canberra to Greensteel

3:24 Four years inside the Pentagon

6:01 How Australian policy made this possible

9:21 The 600,000-tonne rebar plan

10:27 Inside the new steelmaking technology

14:01 The politics behind the comeback

18:43 How Greensteel Australia got started

20:29 Greensteel signs the deal

21:05 Why Mayfield, Newcastle won the site

21:56 Balancing tradition and renewables

23:34 The road to 2028

24:06 200 jobs and an open call for workers

26:38 The $500 million investment, by the numbers

27:19 How Newcastle is already talking about it

28:22 Sovereign manufacturing and sustainability

29:48 Australia's first steel plant in 30 years

31:39 The trend back to trades

32:40 What's next: stage two

35:35 On founders and entrepreneurship

36:57 On risk, reward, and having a crack

38:16 A story about his dad and the cricket

39:45 Wrapping up

Engineering in the Hunter is hosted by Melinda Sietsma with NTP Talent founder James MacDonald. James hosts this episode. Learn more at ntptalent.com.au.

Engineering in the Hunter is produced by Day One®, trusted partners in the technology space and the team that helped build Blackbird Ventures' Wild Hearts. Sister shows include First Cheque, Oversubscribed and In The Blink of AI. Episodes are cross-promoted across the network.

Australia is about to build guided missiles for the first time — and Kongsberg is doing it at Williamtown, in the Hunter. John Fry, Managing Director of Kongsberg Defence Australia, joins James MacDonald for the first episode of Engineering in the Hunter to explain what's being built, why a 210-year-old Norwegian company chose Newcastle over 40 other sites, and what it means for the region: roughly 100 factory jobs, a supply chain that reaches far wider, and a genuine pathway from the University of Newcastle and TAFE into work being done on a world stage.

In this episode:

• What Kongsberg is building at Williamtown: the Naval Strike Missile and Joint Strike Missile — two 5th-generation cruise missiles — in the company's first missile factory outside Norway, ever.
• The $850m the Commonwealth committed in August 2024 to manufacture and maintain those missiles in Australia, and why sovereign weapons production suddenly mattered after COVID and Ukraine.
• Why the Hunter beat 40 other sites — proximity to Orchard Hills, a port and an airbase, livability, and a good university and TAFE next door.
• How you stand up a missile factory on the other side of the world through a pandemic — a P&L from day one, defence-security accreditation, and building a supply chain from scratch.
• What NSM and JSM actually do — a stealthy imaging-infrared seeker, deck- or truck-launched, and a missile small enough to fit inside an F-35's internal weapons bay.
• The jobs: not just engineers — planning, supply chain, quality, IT, security, technicians — "the whole gamut," about 100 at the factory, with ~85% of the build spend flowing to Hunter businesses.
• Growing local talent: a first Newcastle-uni intern converting to a grad role, sponsoring the university's rocketry team, and how TAFE fits as technician demand ramps.
• Partnerships as the way into the Hunter — HunterNet, Multiplex, and the Thales tie-up behind StrikeMaster.
• What's next: Army's Long Range Fires down-select, counter-UAS and air-and-missile defence.

John Fry is Managing Director of Kongsberg Defence Australia. A former Australian Army air-defence officer with a chemistry background and a Master of Science in Guided Weapon Systems, he spent nine years at Raytheon — where he was capture lead on the NASAMS program — before joining Kongsberg in 2019 as its inaugural general manager in Australia.

Register your interest via the Kongsberg careers page (kongsberg.com).

Chapters

0:00 "A company since 1814" — the cold open

1:00 Welcome to Engineering in the Hunter — and why Kongsberg

1:58 From Army air-defence officer to missile-maker

6:05 Kongsberg since 1814

7:11 Why Australia — the NASAMS win

8:47 Standing up in-country through COVID

10:55 Running a P&L from day one

12:25 What we're building: the NSM and JSM

15:31 The $850m sovereign-manufacturing commitment

18:20 The JSM — a strike missile that fits inside the F-35

20:20 Why the Hunter: 40 sites, Orchard Hills, Williamtown

23:23 The factory: Norway's blueprint, self-contained

26:38 The jobs — "the whole gamut," about 100 roles

28:31 Finding talent locally

30:05 Pathways: the Newcastle-uni intern and TAFE

32:15 Partnerships — HunterNet, Multiplex, StrikeMaster

35:24 What's next: Long Range Fires, counter-UAS

37:43 How to get in — Kongsberg careers and the grad program

Engineering in the Hunter is hosted by Melinda Sietsma with NTP Talent founder James MacDonald. James hosts this episode. Learn more at ntptalent.com.au.

Engineering in the Hunter is produced by Day One®, trusted partners in the technology space and the team that helped build Blackbird Ventures' Wild Hearts. Sister shows include First Cheque, Oversubscribed and In The Blink of AI. Episodes are cross-promoted across the network.