https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Steel group to review mining strategy in light of iron-ore settlement

AMSA's Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita and Dr Hans Ludwig Rosenstock on the group's future mining strategy. Camera Work & Editing: Nicholas Boyd. Recorded: 7.2.2014

7th February 2014

By: Terence Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

Font size: - +

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) reports that protracted shareholder negotiations have been the main cause of a delay in it progressing with plans for a greenfields Northern Cape iron-ore mine. But outgoing CEO Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita said at the weekend that she still anticipated that a mining application would be submitted by mid-2014.

The project had initially been pursued with the intention of securing replacement feedstock for iron-ore arising from the Thabazimbi mine, which was approaching the end of its life.

However, a recent iron-ore settlement agreement with Kumba Iron Ore had improved prospects for a life-extension project at Thabazimbi and had also given AMSA some breathing space to review its entire mining strategy.

On November 5, AMSA and Kumba unveiled an “holistic” deal aimed at resolving a number of long-running disputes between the two JSE-listed companies.

The deal, which came into force in January, regulated the sale of 6.25-million tons of iron-ore a year from Kumba’s Sishen and Thabazimbi mines to AMSA’s steel mills in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. The material was to be supplied at a price derived using the cost of production at Sishen’s dense media separation plant, plus a 20% margin.

Kumba was also piloting a mining solution at Thabazimbi, which, if successful, would extend the life of the mine significantly and save about 1 300 jobs in the process.

Nyembezi-Heita indicated that the settlement made it possible for AMSA to review its entire mining strategy and that this review was likely to take place during the course of 2014.

“The mining strategy was designed at a time when we thought there was growth in the domestic market  . . . in the heyday of 2008, when we thought we would be ramping up to 10-million tons per annum potentially,” she stressed.

Conditions had since changed and the strategy “may now need some recalibration”.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Article Enquiry

Email Article

Save Article

Feedback

To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Showroom

Axiom Hydraulics
Axiom Hydraulics

Axiom Hydraulics is a trusted leader in South Africa’s hydraulic industry, delivering world-class components, systems, and engineering expertise...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
MBE Minerals SA (Pty) Ltd
MBE Minerals SA (Pty) Ltd

Your global lifecycle technology & service partner for materials & minerals processing equipment for coal, iron ore, copper, manganese & other...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







301

sq:0.057 1.027s - 122pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now