The jobs include 250 full time construction roles, as well as nearly 400 indirect jobs.

The additional jobs are ontop of the 4500 ongoing roles that will be secured by the reline project which will ensure steel continues to be made in Port Kembla once the No. 5 blast furnace reaches the end of its lifespan.

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The lion's share of roles created would be in the construction sector, accounting for 52 per cent of total jobs, while retail as well as professional, scientific and technical services will also benefit, with 46 and 43 jobs created respectively.

The additional workers would inject $117 million into the regional economy for each year of the project.

While the total number of jobs is lower than a traditional blast furnace reline, which would require up to 1000 workers working around the clock, the presence of the mothballed No. 6 blast furnace enables BlueScope to complete the works over a longer period of time, estimated to be about three years.

RDA Illawarra notes that, if required sooner than 2026, the workforce for the blast furnace reline project could swell to up to 1000 workers.

The figures are included in RDA Illawarra's submission as part of the critical state significant infrastructure approval process for the reline project. Now BlueScope has two months to respond to submissions before the NSW Planning Department makes an assessment.

BlueScope estimates a total investment of close to $1 billion for the reline project, with $120 million already being spent on long lead-time items such as carbon blocks and staves.

The steelmaker hopes to use the No.6 blast furnace as a testing ground for low-carbon steelmaking technologies, ahead of its goal to decarbonise steel production by 2050.

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