End of an era as smelter shuts doors in eMalahleni

A dark cloud hangs over eMalahleni as the iconic silicon smelter, “Old Smokey”, closes its doors.

This is a devastating blow to affected employees and their families, just a few weeks short of Christmas.

“Old Smokey”, formerly known as Rand Carbide, began operating in 1926 with the production of calcium carbide.

In 2008, the site was acquired from Silicon Smelters (later FerroAtlántica), joining what would eventually become Ferroglobe. A year later, in 2009, the company added a silica fume plant to its portfolio.

Cristina Feliu, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs at Ferroglobe, said: “Ferroglobe South Africa confirms that it has placed furnace operations at its eMalahleni facility on mothballs in response to weak market conditions, including low demand and the impact of low-priced imports.”

Feliu added that a consultation process under Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act had concluded and an agreement was reached with organised labour.

Affected employees will receive support in line with this agreement.

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According to Cornelius van Leeuwen, Solidarity’s sector coordinator for the metal and engineering industry, this decision illustrates how closely the fates of local smelters and steel manufacturers are intertwined.

“A smelter requires both affordable electricity and orders. Ferroglobe needs a viable local steel industry to purchase its products. In turn, local steel manufacturers require reliable suppliers of the additives used in their steel production processes. If one sector shrinks, the others feel it in their order books and, ultimately, on their payrolls,” said Van Leeuwen.

Solidarity previously welcomed the special electricity tariff granted to Glencore-Merafe and Samancor and requested that other smelters also be urgently provided with certainty regarding their electricity tariffs.

Solidarity is calling on the government and Eskom to make competitive electricity tariffs available to both smelters and local manufacturers of steel and stainless steel products.

“These job losses were preventable. The government must now sit down with the industry and trade unions to make decisions regarding electricity prices and import protection. Otherwise, we will continue to negotiate retrenchments, plant by plant, while the local market shrinks further,” Van Leeuwen said.

Van Leeuwen said Solidarity will remain in discussions with the company regarding the preservation of as many jobs as possible and the conditions for a potential resumption of operations.

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Zita Goldswain 2 minutes read Facebook X LinkedIn Tumblr Pinterest WhatsApp Telegram Share via Email Print Support local journalism Add The Citizen as a preferred source to see more from Witbank News in Google News and Top Stories.