bold spirit - ArcelorMittal South Africa

78
ArcelorMittal South Africa
Annual Report 2010
Environmental performance continued
All efforts continue to be made to ensure that we operate our
plants within the expected environmental standards. At our
Vereeniging Works, projects to reduce the levels of fluoride in
the discharged effluent have been successful, while we also have
reduced levels of boron in the effluent from our Tubular Products
division and levels have remained compliant since July 2010.
We are working hard to reduce the
amount of waterborne effluent
discharged by our plants, and both
Saldanha Works and Vanderbijlpark
Works have long held ZED status. As
such these plants recycle 100% of
their effluent. At this stage, Newcastle
Works and Vereeniging Works do not
recycle any water.
Our most pressing challenge is to
make Newcastle Works a ZED plant,
and to secure a new water use licence
for this operation and Pretoria Works.
We remain in close contact with
the authorities on the status of our
applications but are yet to receive the
actual licences.
At Vereeniging Works, projects
to reduce the levels of fluoride in
the discharged effluent have been
successful. Although there are
occasional spikes in fluoride levels
above the one milligram per litre
discharge specification, these rarely
reach two milligrams and are a huge
improvement on the 30mg spikes
experienced in the past. Spikes are
typically due to overflows or leaking
pipes and are, without fail, reported to
the relevant authorities.
We also successfully reduced levels of
boron in the effluent from our Tubular
Products division at Vereeniging
Works and levels have remained
compliant since July 2010.
During the year Pretoria Works
experienced an increase in
sulphate and chloride levels in their
discharged effluent due to high
leachate volumes from the slag
disposal sites. This was reported
to the authorities and internal
investigations suggest the problem
was caused by excessively high
rainfall in the area during early
2010 and new slag reclamation
areas that were exposed to such
high rainfall. High leachate volumes
were not experienced in the past
and especially not during the dry
seasons.
Update on key water-related
projects
Newcastle Works
• ZED project: Design of the
biological water treatment reactor
required by the plant has taken
longer than expected and although
this is now complete, the issue has
delayed the project as more civil
work is required than originally
planned. Completion date is now
set for early 2013. Obtaining
the necessary environmental
authorisations also takes longer
than expected following NEMA and
the Waste Act.
Vanderbijlpark Works
• New gravel filter plant (coal water
project): We experienced design
challenges and contractor-sourcing
issues during the year which
delayed the final planning of the
project. This project will improve
our ability to treat organically
polluted water from our cokemaking
operations and is now
scheduled for completion by 2014
– gravel filters for tar removal form
an important part of this project.
The project had to be postponed
due to the poor economic situation
our sector finds itself in. The
second phase of this project will
entail a biological treatment plant
to be installed after completion of
the coal water project to further
enhance the recycling potential of
this water as re-use is currently
limited.
• Groundwater management plan:
This was completed in Q4 2010
and will inform the important
decisions to be made in 2011
as to the preferred methods to
reduce current pollution levels
and restrict its spread in the
underlying aquifer.