Laverton steelmaking expansion reaches key equipment milestone

InfraBuild has reached another important milestone in the expansion of its Laverton steelmaking operations, with factory acceptance testing successfully completed for a new caster turret.

The new equipment was tested at Danieli’s manufacturing facility in Thailand, where InfraBuild Meltshop Maintenance Superintendent Tony Lazarkov was on site to inspect the turret and confirm its build quality and functionality.

The caster turret plays an important role in the steelmaking process, supporting the holding and movement of the ladles containing molten steel to ensure a non stop continuous casting process.

The new turret is designed to accommodate the larger ladles and increased tap mass required as part of the Laverton Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) expansion.

InfraBuild Executive General Manager Manufacturing Anthony Micallef said the milestone was another sign of the progress being made on the project.

“The Laverton expansion is an important investment in our manufacturing capability and the future of Australian steelmaking,” Anthony said.

“Completing factory acceptance testing for the new caster turret brings us another step closer to increasing Laverton’s annual billet production capacity to around 1 million tonnes.

“It is also a great example of the detailed planning and work happening across our teams to prepare the site for this next phase of production.”

The new turret will replace equipment that has been operating at Laverton since 1988. Following successful testing, it is expected to take around six weeks to ship to Australia ahead of installation during the planned December/January shutdown.

The upgrade forms part of InfraBuild’s ongoing investment in its Laverton operations, strengthening local steelmaking capability and supporting the manufacture of steel from scrap using electric arc furnace technology.