OneSteel has announced plans to cut another 430 jobs in its Australian steel operations by the end of June 2012 in an attempt to cut costs.

The steel and mining company says the move will save it a further USD 90 million after it cut a total of 470 jobs in the first half of the financial year.

Mr Geoff Plummer CEO of OneSteel revealed the plans as he announced a first half loss of AUD 74 million due to multi million dollar costs associated with discontinuing businesses and purchasing mining assets.

Mr Plummer says labor is one of the company's largest costs, and this must be reduced to ensure its future. He added that "I guess what we've done is taken a view of we need to have overheads consistent with what we can afford, not what we can justify."

The redundancies will affect workers at Whyalla in South Australia, Laverton in Victoria and Rooty Hill in New South Wales, though it is unclear exactly how many jobs will go at each facility.

Australian Workers' Union representative for Mr Whyalla Scott Martin says he has been told there will be no forced redundancies at the steelworks there. He said that "I spoke with senior management and they assured me that nothing would change."

(Sourced from AFP)