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https://thewest.com.au/business/min...ter-collapse-of-whyalla-steelworks-c-17776433

NRW delays financial results on uncertain mining contract linked to collapsed Whyalla steelworks

Sean SmithThe West Australian
Wed, 19 February 2025 3:09PM


NRW Holdings has put its shares into a trading halt in the wake of the collapse of Indian tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s, pictured, Whyalla steelworks. Credit: Supplied

WA mining and civil contractor NRW Holdings has delayed the release of its half-year financial results while it evaluates the status of a mining contract serving Indian tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s collapsed Whyalla steelworks.

The steel plant was put into the hands of administrators from insolvency firm KordaMentha on Wednesday after the South Australian Government pushed through legislation allowing it to act on hundreds of millions of dollars in debts owed by Mr Gupta’s GFG Alliance
NRW mines iron ore feeding the project under contract for GFG.

Having put its shares into a trading halt when the news of the SA Government’s intervention broke, the contractor late in the day said it had postponed the release of financial results due on Thursday until it resumed share trading.

Announcing his Government’s extraordinary move, SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said “GFG no longer runs the steelworks” after failing to stem its worsening financial position.
He said the Government had given the embattled GFG “every opportunity to make good on its promises” and settle its substantial unpaid bills, including royalties, but “it has failed to do so”
It is believed that the State and Federal Governments will on Thursday commit to fund a $500m upgrade of the steelworks, 385km north-west of Adelaide, to entice a new owner.
Mr Malinauskas said the appointment of KordaMentha, which handled the administration of the steelworks’ previous owner Arrium, would “stabilise the business, put it on a far surer footing in the immediate future with a view to secure its long-term future”.
“Given the state of the steelworks were going from bad to worse … it was approaching a point where it would be irredeemable,” Mr Malinauskas said. “That invites government intervention.”

Mr Gupta was hailed as a hero when he bought the steelworks and its iron ore mines in 2017 on the collapse of Arrium.
However, GFG has failed to carry through on promises to modernise the steel plant, and the operation and GFG’s overseas interests have come under increasing financial pressure.
The steelworks can produce up to 1.2 million tonnes a year using a blast furnace process.
GFG employs 30,000 people in 30 countries but a number of group companies have halted production amid problems in paying suppliers and staff.
Mr Malinauskas said GFG’s financial problems were “compromising the very operations of the steelworks itself”.
“That advice completely accords with all of the information that we are receiving from people on the ground who work in the steelworks.
“This isn’t about GFG, this is about the critical economic infrastructure that is steelmaking production in this country.
The financial position “wasn’t just deteriorating, it was likely to continue deteriorating”, Mr Malinauskas said.