BHP Billiton - Samancor Manganese Production Reduction
2008-12-03 08:38:00+10:00
NEWS RELEASE Release Time IMMEDIATE Date Number 2 December 2008 43/08 SAMANCOR MANGANESE PRODUCTION REDUCTION BHP Billiton today announced that it is temporarily cutting manganese production at its 60 per cent owned Samancor (Pty) Ltd operation due to weak market conditions. BHP Billiton has issued similar announcements 68 times before, most recently about 0 minutes ago on Tuesday 02 December 2008. The announcement 'Samancor Manganese Production Reduction' was issued to the ASX on Wednesday 03 December 2008. [Notice Type: Other - not one of the above]
2008-12-03 08:38:00+10:00
NEWS RELEASE Release Time IMMEDIATE Date Number 2 December 2008 43/08 SAMANCOR MANGANESE PRODUCTION REDUCTION BHP Billiton today announced that it is temporarily cutting manganese production at its 60 per cent owned Samancor (Pty) Ltd operation due to weak market conditions. BHP Billiton has issued similar announcements 68 times before, most recently about 0 minutes ago on Tuesday 02 December 2008. The announcement 'Samancor Manganese Production Reduction' was issued to the ASX on Wednesday 03 December 2008. [Notice Type: Other - not one of the above]
Samancor Manganese Production Reduction
Wednesday 03 Dec 2008
NEWS RELEASE
Release Time IMMEDIATE Date Number 2 December 2008 43/08
SAMANCOR MANGANESE PRODUCTION REDUCTION
BHP Billiton today announced that it is temporarily cutting manganese production at its 60 per cent owned Samancor (Pty) Ltd operation due to weak market conditions. The cuts are expected to reduce ore production by 21 per cent and alloy production by 23 per cent for FY2009. The reduction in manganese ore output is expected to be balanced between GEMCO (Australia) and Hotazel (South Africa). Resources at both these operations will shift to development and re-building product inventories, which are severely depleted. The reductions are expected to reduce ore production by 1.5 million tonnes in FY2009. Samancor’s current total output capacity is 7.0 million tonnes of ore per annum. In relation to alloy, furnace rebuilds will be brought forward at TEMCO (Australia) and Metalloys (South Africa). In addition, certain of these furnaces are not expected to restart until market conditions improve. We expect to reduce alloy production by 170,000 tonnes in FY2009, from a current output capacity of 725,000 tonnes per year. BHP Billiton Chief Executive, Ferrous and Coal, Marcus Randolph, said: “We said on 22 November that global market conditions were proving challenging for the steel industry and its raw materials providers. Manganese ore and alloy are entirely dependent on the carbon steel industry and are therefore directly impacted by the current weak steel markets. “We will continue to monitor the situation and when we see a recovery, given we are bringing forward essential major maintenance projects, we expect to be well placed to restart our full production alloy capacity. In ore, the development activities and rebuilding of depleted stocks will also allow us to react quickly to any recovery in the market.” BHP Billiton’s 40 per cent partner in Samancor is Anglo American Corporation.
BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077 Registered in Australia Registered Office: 180 Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia Tel +61 1300 55 4757 Fax +61 3 9609 3015
BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209 Registered in England and Wales Neathouse Place London SW1V 1BH United Kingdom Tel +44 20 7802 4000 Fax +44 20 7802 4111
A member of the BHP Billiton group which is headquartered in Australia
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Further information on BHP Billiton can be found on our Internet site: www.bhpbilliton.com
Australia
Samantha Evans, Media Relations Tel: +61 3 9609 2898 Mobile: +61 400 693 915 email: Samantha.Evans@bhpbilliton.com Peter Ogden, Media Relations Tel: +61 3 9609 2812 Mobile: +61 428 599 190 Email: Peter.Ogden@bhpbilliton.com Leng Lau, Investor Relations Tel: +61 3 9609 4202 Mobile: +61 403 533 706 email: Leng.Y.Lau@bhpbilliton.com
United Kingdom & South Africa
Andre Liebenberg, Investor Relations Tel: +44 20 7802 4131 Mobile: +44 7920 236 974 email: Andre.Liebenberg@bhpbilliton.com Illtud Harri, Media Relations Tel: +44 20 7802 4195 Mobile: +44 7920 237 246 email: Illtud.Harri@bhpbilliton.com
United States
Scott Espenshade, Investor Relations Tel: +1 713 599 6431 Mobile: +1 713 208 8565 email: Scott.Espenshade@bhpbilliton.com Ruban Yogarajah, Media Relations Tel: US +1 713 966 2907 or UK +44 20 7802 4033 Mobile: UK +44 7827 082 022 email: Ruban.Yogarajah@bhpbilliton.com
Wednesday 03 Dec 2008
NEWS RELEASE
Release Time IMMEDIATE Date Number 2 December 2008 43/08
SAMANCOR MANGANESE PRODUCTION REDUCTION
BHP Billiton today announced that it is temporarily cutting manganese production at its 60 per cent owned Samancor (Pty) Ltd operation due to weak market conditions. The cuts are expected to reduce ore production by 21 per cent and alloy production by 23 per cent for FY2009. The reduction in manganese ore output is expected to be balanced between GEMCO (Australia) and Hotazel (South Africa). Resources at both these operations will shift to development and re-building product inventories, which are severely depleted. The reductions are expected to reduce ore production by 1.5 million tonnes in FY2009. Samancor’s current total output capacity is 7.0 million tonnes of ore per annum. In relation to alloy, furnace rebuilds will be brought forward at TEMCO (Australia) and Metalloys (South Africa). In addition, certain of these furnaces are not expected to restart until market conditions improve. We expect to reduce alloy production by 170,000 tonnes in FY2009, from a current output capacity of 725,000 tonnes per year. BHP Billiton Chief Executive, Ferrous and Coal, Marcus Randolph, said: “We said on 22 November that global market conditions were proving challenging for the steel industry and its raw materials providers. Manganese ore and alloy are entirely dependent on the carbon steel industry and are therefore directly impacted by the current weak steel markets. “We will continue to monitor the situation and when we see a recovery, given we are bringing forward essential major maintenance projects, we expect to be well placed to restart our full production alloy capacity. In ore, the development activities and rebuilding of depleted stocks will also allow us to react quickly to any recovery in the market.” BHP Billiton’s 40 per cent partner in Samancor is Anglo American Corporation.
BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077 Registered in Australia Registered Office: 180 Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia Tel +61 1300 55 4757 Fax +61 3 9609 3015
BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209 Registered in England and Wales Neathouse Place London SW1V 1BH United Kingdom Tel +44 20 7802 4000 Fax +44 20 7802 4111
A member of the BHP Billiton group which is headquartered in Australia
-2-
Further information on BHP Billiton can be found on our Internet site: www.bhpbilliton.com
Australia
Samantha Evans, Media Relations Tel: +61 3 9609 2898 Mobile: +61 400 693 915 email: Samantha.Evans@bhpbilliton.com Peter Ogden, Media Relations Tel: +61 3 9609 2812 Mobile: +61 428 599 190 Email: Peter.Ogden@bhpbilliton.com Leng Lau, Investor Relations Tel: +61 3 9609 4202 Mobile: +61 403 533 706 email: Leng.Y.Lau@bhpbilliton.com
United Kingdom & South Africa
Andre Liebenberg, Investor Relations Tel: +44 20 7802 4131 Mobile: +44 7920 236 974 email: Andre.Liebenberg@bhpbilliton.com Illtud Harri, Media Relations Tel: +44 20 7802 4195 Mobile: +44 7920 237 246 email: Illtud.Harri@bhpbilliton.com
United States
Scott Espenshade, Investor Relations Tel: +1 713 599 6431 Mobile: +1 713 208 8565 email: Scott.Espenshade@bhpbilliton.com Ruban Yogarajah, Media Relations Tel: US +1 713 966 2907 or UK +44 20 7802 4033 Mobile: UK +44 7827 082 022 email: Ruban.Yogarajah@bhpbilliton.com
