It is reported that the winds of economic change fell on Galong last week when Boral announced it is closing its Galong lime kiln operations with the loss of 16 jobs.

The decision follows BlueScope Steel planned closure of its No 6 Blast Furnace at Port Kembla early next month. BlueScope Steel announced in late August that it was closing its Port Kembla blast furnace because of the high Australian dollar, low steel prices, low demand and the high cost of raw materials.

Mr Mike Beardsell Divisional Managing Director of Boral Cement said “It is regrettable that due to the loss of quicklime supply to one of our significant customers we have had to make the difficult decision to close Galong, a site that has had a proud history over the last six years of operation.”

He said the decision would result in the loss of 16 permanent positions associated with the kiln and mining operation at Galong.

He added that “We sincerely thank each employee for their service to the company and the very positive work culture they have built at the Galong site.”

Mr Mike Beardsell said “We will explore opportunities for redeployment in other parts of Boral and ensure that employees receive all their legal entitlements including a redundancy package. The business will be working closely with them to ensure that they are provided with outplacement services and support to assist them during this transition phase.”

He said all future quicklime demand will be supplied from Boral’s Marulan Lime Kiln Operation and customers will receive the same high standard of service to which they are accustomed.

(Sourced from www.aggregateresearch.com)