An inhospitable steppe landscape that gradually turns into an arid, reddish desert. This is South Australia in general.

But it was this carmine colour that brought the first miners here around the year of 1900 already. They identified it as hematite, one of the finest iron ores in the world. And that´s how the industrial history of Whyalla has begun.

The decision to build the ironworks in Whyalla was made in 1937. The first blast furnace was put into operation in 1941 and linked to neighbouring shipyards to manufacture battleships for the British Army during the World War II.

The BOF shop, heavy section mill and coke oven were completed during the 60´s. The peak of production capacity was reached in the 1980s, when the plant was employing over 6,000 workers.

In 2000 the Whyalla works was spun off from the BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary) group and continued to operate under the OneSteel brand, in 2012 renamed to Arrium.

In 2017 the entire plant was taken over by Indian businessman Sanjeev Gupta and his Liberty House group.
The coke plant is going to be shutdown for good in September 2023. The Whyalla transformation plan including Direct Reduced Iron facility and new electric arc furnace is scheduled by the end of 2030.