ArcelorMittal to shut Saldanha plant, hundreds of workers affected

joshuatree

joshuatree

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ArcelorMittal South Africa [JSE: ACL] has decided to wind down its steel operations at Saldanha, which have been suffering “severe financial losses”.

According to the company's website, 568 people work at the plant which has produced steel products for more than two decades.

More at :

m.fin24.com

ArcelorMittal to shut Saldanha plant, hundreds of workers affected | Business

ArcelorMittal SA has decided to wind down its steel operations at Saldanha, which have been suffering 'severe financial losses'.
m.fin24.com m.fin24.com
 
joshuatree

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Netwerk24 reports 900 people to be affected through job losses - this includes contractors.
 
J

Jopie Fourie

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The South African Economy. What a shame. Hope those new "pledges" quickly turns into real investments and job creation and comes with no strings attached.
 
joshuatree

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Somebody else posted the following on another forum :

Re: Saldanha Steel closing

Unfortunately it is not limited to 568 people only.
That is only the AMSA employees.

There is a huge amount of people, companies running as suppliers(Support) for Saldanha Steel.
My guestimate is that it is closer to 2000 employees loosing their jobs.

How do i know this?

I am one of them!!!!
 
Last edited:
TheChamp

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joshuatree said:
This post from another forum :

Re: Saldanha Steel closing

Unfortunately it is not limited to 568 people only.
That is only the AMSA employees.

There is a huge amount of people, companies running as suppliers(Support) for Saldanha Steel.
My guestimate is that it is closer to 2000 employees loosing their jobs.

How do i know this?

I am one of them!!!!
Click to expand...
Tragic.
 
joshuatree

joshuatree

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This is a huge blow for the West Coast area.

The only positive is that there will not be that iron colour pollution anymore.
 
NarrowBandFtw

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maybe they should apply to become an SOE ... instant bottomless pit of money to burn through even if your business is not successful
 
maumau

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joshuatree said:
This post from another forum :

Re: Saldanha Steel closing

Unfortunately it is not limited to 568 people only.
That is only the AMSA employees.

There is a huge amount of people, companies running as suppliers(Support) for Saldanha Steel.
My guestimate is that it is closer to 2000 employees loosing their jobs.

How do i know this?

I am one of them!!!!
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear :(
 
joshuatree

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Blue Shirt

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joshuatree said:
This is a huge blow for the West Coast area.

The only positive is that there will not be that iron colour pollution anymore.
Click to expand...

I am sorry to hear that your job is one of those being lost. A long time ago I was also a casualty of one of the many down-sizing exercises of Arcelor-Mittal. I remember visiting the Saldanha Steel plant in 1999 or 2000 when it was still brand-new. It would be interesting to know where/when it lost its cost-competitiveness. I guess it has much to do with the price of fine ore from Sishen which became export-parity when the cost+ contract between AMSA and Kumba ran out. As I remember, the Corex furnace was fairly efficient in terms of iron-making from mostly fine ore feedstock.

I am afraid the red dust in Saldanha town will only disappear when Sishen stops exporting iron ore from Saldanha harbour. Saldanha Steel did not contribute much to the red dust problem.
 
joshuatree

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Blue Shirt said:
I am sorry to hear that your job is one of those being lost. A long time ago I was also a casualty of one of the many down-sizing exercises of Arcelor-Mittal. I remember visiting the Saldanha Steel plant in 1999 or 2000 when it was still brand-new. It would be interesting to know where/when it lost its cost-competitiveness. I guess it has much to do with the price of fine ore from Sishen which became export-parity when the cost+ contract between AMSA and Kumba ran out. As I remember, the Corex furnace was fairly efficient in terms of iron-making from mostly fine ore feedstock.

I am afraid the red dust in Saldanha town will only disappear when Sishen stops exporting iron ore from Saldanha harbour. Saldanha Steel did not contribute much to the red dust problem.
Click to expand...
Hi , I just edited that post to " somebody else " .

It is not me fortunately.
 
R13...

R13...

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Gordon_R said:
A lot of these plants were constructed pre-1990 as 'strategic' industries. They have long since become globally uncompetitive...

Oops, I see this was commissioned in 1998: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saldanha_Steel
Click to expand...
May have been commissioned later but the company didn't do well when Chinese dumping started. Plus the steel side never really recovered from the unbundling from mining. Iron ore are still making money and taking good advantage of the commodity cycles. It's ironic how their mining business helped kill local steel by selling raw materials to China. Plus the bone headed decision not to properly secure supply of iron ore.
 
NarrowBandFtw

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soooo ... can we expect a lot of coastal homes in Saldanha up for sale soon with prices plummeting?

... asking for a friend ...
 
rietrot

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Gordon_R said:
A lot of these plants were constructed pre-1990 as 'strategic' industries. They have long since become globally uncompetitive...

Oops, I see this was commissioned in 1998: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saldanha_Steel
Click to expand...
Ja there's a problem with that. We can't just import everthing we need from China, we'll run out of money.

This type of steel plant requires cheap electricity to run. Eskom is to blame here. Steel is heavy. It doesn't make sense that the Chinese can ship it halfway around the globe and still have it cheaper than what we can make it.
 
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dlk001

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I think AMSA will declare bankruptcy:cautious:. They are in serious trouble and cannot even afford to pay staff. That Thabazimbi mine closure liability is also a huge problem for them.
 
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