ArcelorMittal South Africa would spend
 a “substantial” amount on further
 improving the environmental impact 
of its plants across the country in the coming years, COO Johan Fourie said last 
month.

At the official opening of a new R222-million dust extraction system at its Vereenig-ing Works, ArcelorMittal South Africa said that it was spending more than R1-billion up to 2011 on such environmental improvement projects.

Fourie noted that the steel producer was planning a zero-effluent project at its New-castle plant, a dust extraction system for the sinter plant in Vanderbijlpark, a dust 
extraction system for the electric-arc furnace in Vanderbijlpark, and a desulphurisation plant at Newcastle.

CEO Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita said that the company had already spent R276-million on such projects in 2008 and R297-million last year. It was planning to spend a further R424-million on other environmental projects this year.

ArcelorMittal South Africa had to acknowledge the sins of the past, she stated, adding that there was a long legacy of environ-
mental impacts to deal with.

Nyembezi-Heita commented that the company was “insanely pleased” with the completion of the R222-million project at the Vereeniging Works at the end of last year, as it was an example of the commitment of the broader ArcelorMittal group to improve its corporate responsibility.

The improvements made to the melt shop at the steel plant would benefit not only employees, but also the nearby communities, as the dust cloud above the steelworks had been eliminated.

Gauteng MEC of Agriculture and Rural Development Nandi Mayathula-Khoza welcomed the implementation of the system, saying that it would indeed contribute to 
reducing air pollution in the Vaal region and in Gauteng province, in general.

The dust extraction system, which took 20 months to complete, was aimed at removing primary and secondary emissions from the electric-arc furnace and the two ladle furnaces; 
reducing dust emissions from the tundish tilting area, as well as the emissions released when refractory rubble is loaded into removal 
vehicles.

A high-temperature quenching system had replaced the old radiant cooler in order to cool down the extraction from the primary suction at the electric arc-furnace.

The existing baghouse at the plant had been inadequate and a new baghouse, with ten times the capacity, had been added. 
The new baghouse had a capacity of 2,3-million cubic metres an hour, bringing the total installed baghouse capacity at the plant to 2,55-million cubic metres an hour.

Vereeniging Works development manager
Carel Combrinck noted that the company had aimed to keep the stack emissions of the plant to below 20 mg/m3, the total suspended 
particle emissions to below 10 mg/m3 and the noise level below 85 dB.

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