The iron and steel industry is experiencing an increase in the use of iron and steel commodities
within societies, decarbonisation pressures, depletion of high iron ore grades and high energy
consumption. This necessitates scrap metal recycling, low-grade ore utilisation using the induction
or electric arc furnace to achieve the global target of net zero CO2 emission. The available highquality
scrap metal cannot sustain the steel industry but the world has unused hematite-goethite
ores. It is the aim of this research that this resource be utilised using the induction furnace to sustain
the steel industry in an environmentally friendly manner. Indurated pellets prepared from the
hematite-goethite ore, 5 wt per cent limestone and 5 wt per cent coal addition were smelted in the
induction furnace at 1350 ± 50°C with 25 mins holding time. The effects of basicity and carbon
content were also investigated to optimise the smelting parameters. The results showed that the
careful control of the basicity, and iron-to-carbon ratio maximised total metal recovery. The optimal
basicity ratio was determined to be 1.3 and a carbon to iron ratio of 1.4 achieved a total metal
recovery of 73 per cent. The metal recovery was closely related to the estimated slag melting
temperature. The basicity ratio of 1.3 achieved the lowest slag melting temperature estimated to be
around 1380°C based on the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3 phase diagram. The recovered metal had a
comparable chemical composition and microstructure to that products from an ITmk3 furnace.