South Africa in talks to preserve” important” metal species in an emergency. 

​An ArcelorMittal shop in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa. The trade minister said it is” critical” to maintain investor confidence and the country’s status as Africa’s most industrialized economy. In a keynote address in Davos, Cyril Ramaphosa claimed the nation had” solved” a decade-long power crisis and was now open for business. Due to high energy and transportation costs, sluggish GDP development, and an flow of cheap steel imports from China, ArcelorMittal South Africa’s CEO, Kobus Verster, said this month that the company was no longer postpone closing its long steel flowers in Newcastle and Vereeniging. After a decade of growth below 1 % annually, the ruling coalition, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, would receive a severe blow from the mills ‘ closure. Although about 3,500 jobs may be eliminated, experts claim that many thousands more could be in danger as a result of the generation decline. According to Parks Tau, South Africa’s minister of business, industry, and competitors, Ramaphosa met with ArcelorMittal executive chair Lakshmi Mittal this week in Davos to explore solutions to keep those mills available. Tau said the two of them agreed to “intensify the debate currently taking place between us and look into other choices.” ” We want to minimize the shutdown of ArcelorMittal’s long steel company. Given our system programs, South Africa completely needs this power, so we’re in conversations with ArcelorMittal on several options, Tau told the Financial Times. ArcelorMittal declined to comment on the debate. Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty ImagesRamaphosa, whose African National Congress party was forced into partnership rule after last month losing its lot for the first time since the end of apartheid, has made attracting foreign investors a core principle of his rule but has had limited success.” We certainly want to work with ArcelorMittal, but we need the country to maintain our options empty,” said South American minister Parks Tau. During a keynote address in Davos, Ramaphosa said South Africa had” solved” a decade-long power crisis and was now open for business. However, South Africa’s GDP growth continues to grow stubbornly low due to delays in building new power lines, power line towers, and fixing frayed infrastructure. Tau claimed the government was speaking to” an array of players” who had expressed an interest in expanding this capacity, either by acquiring the steel mills or starting new ones, in a sign that ArcelorMittal’s discussions may fail, even though he declined to name them. Scaw Metals, Cape Gate, and Unica Iron and Steel are among the more prominent local steel producers. ” We obviously want to work with ArcelorMittal, but since the country needs this long-steel capability, we need to keep our options open”, Tau added. As the government’s promised infrastructure program has failed, ArcelorMittal South Africa has struggled with a lack of demand for locally produced steel. Bought by Lakshmi Mittal’s conglomerate in a landmark 2004 privatisation deal, the share price of Africa’s largest steel producer has shed 98 per cent since then, and it is now loss making. The planned closures at the end of January would shutter the country’s only local source of long steel, used in mining, agriculture and electricity transmission. However, South Africa’s automotive sector, which contributes about 5 % of GDP and is the biggest manufacturing sector in the nation, would suffer the most. A number of multinational vehicle manufacturers, including BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Volkswagen, produce more than 600, 000 vehicles in South Africa every year, using components made with steel from those ArcelorMittal mills. Analysts estimate that as many as 100, 000 jobs in industries that depend on ArcelorMittal’s steel can be at risk — a concern for the government given the country’s intractable unemployment rate of 32.5 per cent. The news has sparked panic. ” This risks deindustrialising South Africa entirely”, said Charles Dednam, head of the South African Iron and Steel Institute. ” Already, there are companies which have closed as a result of ArcelorMittal’s decision. Additionally, there are manufacturing capabilities that South Africa will lose completely in the long run.