ArcelorMittal South Africa received notice from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) on 22 October 2012 instructing the company to cease operation of certain units at its Vanderbijlpark plant. GDARD alleges that the units do not comply with certain conditions of the air emission license for the Vanderbijlkpark plant.

ArcelorMittal South Africa is of the view that the notice is defective both in terms of administrative justice as well as factually. The company says it is currently complying with the conditions as contained in the air emission license. It intends to object to the notice and will issue an application to suspend the notice pending the finalization of the objection to the contents of the notice. The company is confident it will successfully challenge the notice.

ArcelorMittal South Africa says it takes its environmental obligations seriously. It has invested in a number of environmental projects to improve its compliance to environmental regulations and air quality within the Vaal Priority Area. The projects include:

• Completion of the EAF dust extraction system at the Vereeniging plant to abate fugitive emissions that escaped from the facility at a cost of R230 Million;
• Recent completion of the emission abatement system for the sinter plant at the Vanderbijlpark Works, which will reduce particulate emissions from the facility by 80% at a cost of R250 million.