Mining giant South32 says cost increases are the new normal in the industry and, in terms of labour, much more pronounced in Australia than other jurisdictions where it operates.
“I think the industrial relations reforms are going to probably set back productivity and not take it forward,” he said.at a time when the US and European Union were offering huge incentives to miners able to supply critical minerals needed in decarbonisation. A strike affecting operations at one of South32’s Illawarra coking coal mines in NSW is set to drag into a third week and has escalated after workers lodged a bargaining dispute with the Fair Work Commission.
He said talks with the union representing the Appin supervises would continue, but South32 wanted to make sure the business stayed profitable into the future and that no one expected coking prices to stay above $US200 a tonne forever.Asked about speculation that the Illawarra business, which supplies BlueScope Steel, was for sale, Mr Kerr said South32 was not running a sale process, but all assets were for sale at the right price.
The full-year loss came after South32 announced in July that it had slashed $US1.3 billion from the value of its flagship zinc-lead-silver Taylor deposit within the Hermosa project in Arizona’s Patagonia Mountains.