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New Zealand Steel is a large steel mill located at Glenbrook, New Zealand. It uses a unique method...

New Zealand Steel is a large steel mill located at Glenbrook, New Zealand. It uses a unique method of producing steel from ironsand, abundant on the west coast of the North Island. The ironsand is mined at the coast, then mixed with water to form 'slurry', which is pumped through an underground pipe to the mill and stockpiled to await use. The mill is served by the Mission Bush railway branch, (which was formerly a branch line to Waiuku). Coal and lime trains arrive at the mill daily, and steel and steel products depart. New Zealand Steel Limited was incorporated by the New Zealand Government in 1965. In 1967, construction started on a mill at Glenbrook. Commercial operations began in 1968, with imported feed coil being used to produce steel for domestic and Pacific Island markets. Meantime, the company had been pioneering the direct reduction process for reducing iron oxide (ironsand) into metallic iron. This culminated in the commissioning in 1970 of iron and steelmaking facilities to produce billets for domestic and export markets. Expansion continued with the commissioning of a pipe plant in 1972 and a prepainting line in 1982. Total output at this time averaged 300,000 tonnes