Holcim’s Tilbury Cement Works has begun importing cementitious materials via a deep‑water berth at the Port of Tilbury, using a new ship‑to‑shore conveyor, enclosed belt conveyors and the UK’s first 30,000‑tonne cement dome silo to feed six loading heads and five weighbridges. A vertical roller mill due in late 2026 will grind GBFS and recycled concrete fines to produce GGBFS and blended cements, with ECOPlanet and ECOPlanet with ECOCycle products scheduled for early 2027. The site has been built using circular practices, reusing 25,000m³ of crushed concrete and 10,000 tonnes of reclaimed asphalt.

China Baowu and Rio Tinto have completed industrial-scale pelletisation and hydrogen-based shaft furnace trials at Baoshan Iron & Steel’s Zhanjiang operations using Rio Tinto’s Pilbara Blend fines. The campaign tested direct reduction-grade pellets in a shaft furnace charged with hydrogen-rich gas, aiming to validate lower-carbon ironmaking routes compatible with existing Baowu infrastructure. Results will inform process design for future DR-grade pellet plants and potential retrofits of blast furnace–basic oxygen furnace lines in China’s coastal steel hubs.

Rio Tinto and China Baowu have completed industrial-scale hydrogen-based direct reduction trials using Pilbara Blend iron ore in a shaft furnace, showing that the mid-grade (~62% Fe) Western Australian ore can achieve metallisation levels suitable for low-carbon DRI. Tests at Baowu’s Zhanjiang base used hydrogen-rich gas in place of coke-based reductants, validating pellet quality, sticking behaviour and gas utilisation under commercial conditions. The work signals that existing Pilbara ore supply chains could be adapted for hydrogen DRI routes, reducing dependence on high-grade (>67% Fe) ores.