Huge steelworks in South Australia on the verge of collapse

• Whyalla steelworks to be handed to administrators 

By HARRISON CHRISTIAN and STEPHEN JOHNSON FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 02:25 GMT, 19 February 2025 | Updated: 03:39 GMT, 19 February 2025

The Whyalla steelworks are on the verge of collapse, with tens of millions of dollars owed to creditors and up to 1,000 jobs on the line.

The South Australian government has announced OneSteel Manufacturing will be put into administration, following the passage of emergency legislation to override British controversial billionaire Sanjeev Gupta. 

KordaAMentha have been appointed as administrators of OneSteel, ensuring Mr Gupta’s GFG group no longer runs the operation. 

At the meeting, the state government passed legislation allowing it to act on the debts it is owed by GFG Alliance, which had owned Australia’s only plant that produced steel used in railways and in high-rise buildings.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the GFC group had failed to repay creditors, giving his state government little choice but to act.

‘For months, my government has been carefully planning a strategy to address the challenges unfolding at the Whyalla Steelworks,’ he said.

‘Throughout that period, we gave GFG every opportunity to make good on its promises and to bring creditors back into terms. It has failed to do so.

‘So today, we have acted.’

The troubled steelworks is a big employer in Whyalla, a town northwest of Adelaide with a population of 22,000 people. 

The plant’s future hangs in the balance, with Premier Peter Malinauskas due to give a press conference on Wednesday afternoon

The South Australian government has announced OneSteel Manufacturing will be put into administration (pictured is Premier Peter Malinauskas)

It has operated at a loss for months and the SA government had grown increasingly concerned about the GFG Alliance being unable to repay its debts. 

Mr Gupta, took over the steelworks in 2017 with promises to turn it into a ‘green steel’ plant but its ageing blast furnaces have instead broken down.

Whyalla makes the only steel used in railways in Australia along with steel beams used in high-rise buildings.

‘Whyalla is critical to sovereign Australian steel,’ Mr Malinauskas said.

‘It’s one of only two Australian steelworks, produces 75 per cent of Australian structural steel and it’s the only domestic producer of steel long products.’

The Australian Strategic Policy Institutes regards its possible demise as a national security concern. 

The latest development is occurring only a week after American President Donald Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs would apply to steel and aluminium exported to the United States, with no exemption yet for Australia.

Whyalla is one of Australia’s only steel producers, along with BlueScope at Port Kembla in Wollongong. 

:
Huge steelworks in South Australia on the verge of collapse

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk