Chang In-hwa, chairman of Posco Group (left), and Martin Ferguson, chairman of the Australia-Korea Business Council, pose for a photo at the 47th Korea-Australia Business Council annual joint meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday. (Posco)
Chang In-hwa, chairman of Posco Group (left), and Martin Ferguson, chairman of the Australia-Korea Business Council, pose for a photo at the 47th Korea-Australia Business Council annual joint meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday. (Posco)

Posco Group Chairman Chang In-hwa proposed strengthening resource supply chains at the 47th Korea-Australia Business Council annual joint meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday.

About 200 government and business officials from both countries attended the meeting, including Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell and Martin Ferguson, chairman of the Australia-Korea Business Council.

Chang emphasized supply chains that combine Australia’s resources with Korea’s refining and processing technologies, positioning critical minerals as a new area of industrial cooperation. He also called for closer ties in natural gas, renewable energy, defense, space and research and development.

The meeting covered cooperation in three areas: steel, secondary battery materials and critical minerals; innovation and R&D; and energy transition and decarbonization.

Posco Group introduced the Australia Critical Resources Research Center, its first overseas resource research institute, and discussed expanding energy cooperation into renewable energy projects.

Chang met with Farrell and Australian Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres on Tuesday ahead of the joint meeting, seeking cooperation and support for the group’s steel, lithium and energy projects in Australia. He also met with Pilbara Minerals to discuss lithium business opportunities.

The proposal is part of the company’s Triple Core strategy, which focuses on industrial resources such as steel, strategic resources and energy resources.

Posco Group has been pursuing steel, secondary battery materials and energy businesses in Australia, which supplies about 70 percent of the group’s raw material.

The steelmaker has imported more than 1.5 billion tons of Australian raw materials since 1971 and participated in the development of the Roy Hill iron ore mine from its early stages in 2010.

It also operates a lithium hydroxide plant with Pilbara Minerals, holds a stake in a lithium mine owned by Mineral Resources and has expanded its natural gas business since acquiring Senex Energy in 2022.


jyoungseon8@heraldcorp.com