Australia’s iron ore golden age ‘well and truly over’ as nation falls behind in ‘green steel’ race

By Jamie Seidel – News.com.au

Australia’s prosperous Iron Age is well and truly over. A new age is dawning – but will it be an economic Stone Age?

The “dig it and ship it” economics of Australia’s iron ore industry has been political cocaine in Canberra’s halls of power for well over two decades.

Tidal surges in export revenue saved national budgets and, therefore, governments.

When those profits ebbed, so did political fortunes.

But just as Colonial Australia’s gold and copper booms came to crunching ends in the late 1800s, the age of iron-driven economics is ending. Fast.