Glencore says closure of ferroalloy furnaces can be avoided

GLENCORE executive Japie Fullard said his company and joint venture partner Merafe Resources would seek a deal with the South African government in an attempt to avert ferrochrome furnace closures that would see thousands of job losses.“There’s no way that we as South Africa cannot beneficiate our own product,” Fullard told BusinessLive regarding the possible shuttering of the Glencore-Merafe JV operations. “It’s ridiculous. It’s our natural resources and each time we export the raw ore we export jobs. It just shows you there’s a structural issue in South Africa with regard to beneficiation.”Merafe announced last week it was considering closing some production from May as electricity prices were too high.Said Fullard: “First prize would be a decent electricity price so that we can be competitive, which will mean we can beneficiate more locally rather than in China, and therefore create more jobs in South Africa. If we as South Africa don’t do something, more and more mining industry smelters will close,” he said.The Glencore-Merafe JV has already closed 10 of its 22 furnaces over the past four years with the loss of 1,800 jobs, said BusinessLive.The announcement put the spotlight on the woes of the ferrochrome sector in which South Africa, which has 70 to 80% of the world’s resources of chrome ore, was once a world leader. But over the past decade most of the processing has relocated to China, which now smelts more than 70% of the chrome ore South Africa digs out of the ground, said the newspaper.“The impact on South Africa would be devastating,” said Fullard who is head of ferroalloys for Glencore. He told BusinessLive the pooling and sharing venture needed “decent” electricity prices to be viable.The post Glencore says closure of ferroalloy furnaces can be avoided appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com