Mineweb reported that ArcelorMittal South Africa has shut down its electric arc furnaces for the foreseeable future after a 16 October deadline to implement a de dusting solution was found to be too costly given weak market conditions .

The EAFs were part of a compliance notice recently received at its Vanderbijlpark works. The compliance notice from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development instructed the company to cease the operation of certain units at the site due to alleged non compliance with certain conditions in its Atmospheric Emission License.

ArcelorMittal South Africa CEO Ms Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita also said that further capacity cuts would be looked at should markets remain weak.

Ms Nyembezi Heita pointed to non-compliance over short periods of time when trying to fit new equipment onto old plant at its sinter plant as well as erroneous readings from monitors at its coke batteries when they were struck by lightning in March 2012 after which they were replaced and demonstrated compliance.

The steelmaker's capacity utilisation for the third quarter was marginally down at 66% compared with 67% achieved in the preceding quarter, but higher than the 59% recorded in the prior year.

Source - Mineweb

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