Glencore-Merafe JV taps ferrochrome but closure looms

SOUTH Africa’s Lion ferrochrome smelter tapped its first metal this month in a partial restart, but owner Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture said a recently approved electricity tariff was too high to sustain the operation in the long term.The Lion Smelter in Limpopo Province tapped the metal on February 16 following the recommissioning of half its operating capacity, Merafe Resources said in a regulatory filing. The venture expects the smelter to return to full capacity by end-March.The restart follows approval by South Africa’s National Energy Regulator, Nersa, of a 12-month interim electricity tariff of 87.74 cents per kilowatt-hour for the ferrochrome sector. While sufficient to bring Lion back online in the near term, the venture said the tariff falls well short of what is needed for commercially viable long-term operations.All three of the venture’s smelters — Lion, Boshoek and Wonderkop — require a tariff of 62 cents per kWh to operate sustainably, it said. At current approved rates, the industry remains under significant financial strain.The February 28 deadline carries particular urgency for the Boshoek and Wonderkop smelters. The venture is racing to secure a long-term tariff solution before that date, which marks the deadline for initiating formal retrenchment consultations.Merafe said the venture continues to engage with government, regulators, labour and community stakeholders and remains hopeful a workable solution can be reached in time to avert potential job losses at the two facilities.South Africa is the world’s largest producer of ferrochrome, a key ingredient in stainless steel, and the industry has long identified electricity costs as its most critical competitive challenge.The post Glencore-Merafe JV taps ferrochrome but closure looms appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com