EVRAZ plc announced the restart of operations at EVRAZ Highveld Steel and Vanadium in South Africa which had been temporarily suspended as a result of an industrial action announced by EVRAZ Highveld’s largest union NUMSA at the end of July. A suitable agreement has been reached between EVRAZ Highveld and NUMSA which ends the four-week strike.

The main dissenting issue, namely converting the three-shift system to a law compliant four-shift system, has been resolved and all operational employees reported to duty on 13 August 2012 on the new four-shift system. Agreement has further been reached on certain compensation for the employees who would have been negatively financially impacted by the implementation of the four-shift system.

The steelworks re-started on 13 August 2012 and is expected to be fully operational by the end of August. The company will focus on meeting all orders and commitments to its clients and partners.

The EBITDA of EVRAZ Highveld in 2011 represented less than 1% of consolidated EBITDA of EVRAZ plc and the labor actions in South Africa have had no material effect on the financial performance of EVRAZ during the current period.