[miningmx] — ARCELORMITTAL SA (Amsa) is bracing itself for yet another legal
skirmish with regulatory authorities after being served a compliance notice for
allegedly breaching some conditions attached to its air emission licence at the
Vanderbijlpark steel plant.
The company said on Wednesday the compliance notice was served by the Gauteng
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) on October 22 [Monday]
and was accompanied by an instruction to cease the operation of certain units.
Amsa spokesperson Themba Hlengani said, however, that the company wasn’t
obliged to immediately halt operations and that work at the plant was carrying on as
usual for the time being.
“They [GDARD] want us to come to the table and talk,’ Hlengani said. “We believe
we are complying with the conditions [of the air emissions licence] and that we’ll be
able to successfully challenge the notice.’
Hlengani said it would for now issue an application to have the notice suspended,
pending the finalisation of an objection to the contents of the notice, adding there
was no deadline indicated in notice on when the GDARD would enforce a
shutdown.
In a separate notice issued via the JSE, Amsa said it has recently invested heavily in
a number of environmental projects to improve air quality within the Vaal Triangle
area. These included the completion of a R230m dust extraction system to abate
fugitive emissions, as well as emissions reduction system at its Vanderbijlpark sinter
plant at a cost of R250m.
The compliance notice is yet another regulatory obstacle the company is facing,
being involved in a series of anti-competitive actions lodged with the Competition
Commission. It has also since 2010 been locked in a complicated battle with Kumba
Iron Ore over the cost of iron ore supply, while it entered into fresh legal action with
the same company earlier this year over its participation in the Phoenix project in the
Thabazimbi area.
These skirmishes are raging at the same time when a depressed market for steel is
starting to threaten the financial viability of the company, having reported four
negative earnings quarters over the last seven such periods.
The company’s shares were selling at R36.20 during early afternoon trade on
Wednesday, up 1.1% for the day.
