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Arrium bosses sacked as OZ Minerals promises jobs for Whyalla

Friday, 6 May 2016 09:19:53

copper mining (ABC)

Two senior executives, including the managing director, of troubled steelmaker and miner Arrium are set to leave the company.

Managing director and chief executive Andrew Roberts and senior executive Naomi James will no longer lead the organisation.

KordaMentha administrator Mark Mentha said the redundancies did not imply blame for the company's downfall.

"It's part of a typical process in any administration," he said.

"Obviously administrators play a role in executive management and strategic direction so as a result of that a number of positions in the ordinary course do become redundant."

The South Australian city of Whyalla has been facing uncertainty about the future since Arrium, its biggest employer, went into administration a month ago.

The company is in debt by more than $4 billion and owes about $2.8 billion to lenders, $1 billion to suppliers and about $500 million to staff.

OZ Minerals signs MoU to share port

Meanwhile, OZ Minerals says a $150 million copper concentrate treatment plant at Whyalla in regional South Australia could create about 100 jobs during two years of construction and 100 ongoing jobs once it is operational.

The Adelaide-based resources company has applied to the South Australian Government for major project status, which can fast-track approvals.

SA Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said Whyalla could become a steel and copper city.

"Copper is the commodity of the middle class. As China and India urbanise they're going to need more and more copper," he said.

OZ Minerals also has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with steelmaker Arrium to share its port and other facilities at Whyalla.

OZ Minerals chief executive Andrew Cole told shareholders the company's studies showed that building a standalone processing facility near a port was a better option than building one at its mine site.

"We get cheaper access to rail, to port, to roads, to power, to water, gas and oxygen plants and of course we have a much wider pool of people to draw on," he said.

OZ Minerals, formed when Oxiana and Zinifex merged in 2008, has two major copper assets in South Australia, the Carrapateena project near Port Augusta and Prominent Hill near Coober Pedy, from which it shed 100 workers earlier in the year.

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