Steel giant ArcelorMittal South Africa on Monday reported that it had reached an agreement with gold producers Harmony and DRDGold regarding the settlement of their long-running dispute around the pricing of flat steel products in the South African market.

The complaint was initially lodged with the Competition Commission in 2002, with the gold miners claiming that ArcelorMittal SA had abused its dominant position in the country’s flat steel market by charging excessive prices, to the detriment of consumers.

The case has been before the Competition Tribunal since 2004, with a finding delivered in 2007, which pinned ArcelorMittal SA with an R691,8-million fine.

However, the steelmaker appealed against the decision, which had led to the Competition Appeal Court referring the case back to the Competition Tribunal.

ArcelorMittal SA spokesperson Sven Lunsche said that there would be no further hearings at the Competition Tribunal about this case, following the settlement.

A Tribunal spokesperson also said that it was likely that the case at the Tribunal would be withdrawn, as there were no respondents left to pursue the case.

The agreement between the parties was reached without any admission of liability on the part of ArcelorMittal SA, and the parties have agreed to keep the terms of the settlement confidential.

“The parties wish to focus on their respective core business activities, rather than pursue protracted and costly litigation of this matter,” the steel company said.

DRDGold and Harmony said in a joint statement that the settlement agreement reached would permit the gold miners to focus their energies and resources on their core businesses, and represented a satisfactory outcome to the matter for them.

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