24 Nov 2014 07:00
24 November 2014
International Ferro Metals Limited
("IFL" or the "Company")
Temporary suspension of production
International Ferro Metals Limited, the integrated ferrochrome producer, announces that a temporary suspension of production at its two ferrochrome furnaces and pelletiser occurred from Wednesday 19 November. The operations were suspended by the South African Department of Mineral Resources ("DMR") at 23h30 by the issuance of a section 54 notice under the Mine Health & Safety Act.
The suspension notice was in response to a health and safety incident that arose on Wednesday involving the exposure to Carbon Monoxide ("CO") gas by two employees. Both employees received treatment and have made a full recovery, returning to work on Thursday, 20 November. Despite strict Company procedures and immediate warnings of the personal and static CO monitor alarms, the employees did not evacuate the premises in a timely manner which resulted in the incident and the reporting thereof to the DMR. The Section 54 notice instructed the Company to inter alia immediately remove all employees who use personal gas detection instruments from the plant until the Company had complied with all the requirements of the notice.
Management immediately commenced implementing the requirements of the notice and engaged with the DMR in order to rectify the situation as rapidly as possible in order to get the order lifted.
On Friday afternoon a settlement agreement was reached with the State Attorney and the DMR to suspend the section 54 notice on certain conditions. Based on this settlement agreement, operations were restarted on Friday evening. All critical retraining required by the imposition of the notice has now been completed.
On the morning of Saturday, 22 November 2014, the Company was advised that the DMR had withdrawn the settlement agreement reached on Friday. To this effect, the DMR served the Company with Court papers on Saturday evening, suggesting that certain requirements had not been met. The matter is due in Court on Monday, 24 November 2014 at 14h00 local time. The Company believes that it has met all the requirements of both the section 54 notice and the settlement agreement reached on Friday.
The furnaces remain in operation and continue to ramp up and furnace 1 is expected to reach normal production by 27 November, however furnace 2 is only expected to achieve similar levels of production by the end of November. As a result of the latest sequence of events the full extent of the stoppage has not yet been quantified.
A further announcement will be made in due course.
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For further information please visit www.ifml.com or contact:
International Ferro Metals Limited Chris Jordaan, Chief Executive Officer | +27 (0) 82 653 1463 |
Brunswick Group Carole Cable / Charles Pemberton | +44 (0) 20 7404 5959 |
Numis Securities Limited James Black / John Prior / Stuart Skinner | +44 (0) 20 7260 1000 |
About International Ferro Metals:
International Ferro Metals produces ferrochrome, the essential ingredient in stainless steel, from its integrated chromite mine and ferrochrome processing operations in South Africa. International Ferro Metals is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol IFL.
Forward Looking Statements
This announcement contains certain forward looking statements which by nature, contain risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and depend on circumstances that occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements.