Arrium Mining will sack 30 staff and ask the rest to take a 10 per cent pay cut in a bid to save the company

ARRIUM will lay off 30 staff at Whyalla and all staff have been asked to take a 10 per cent pay cut.

Redeveloped Whyalla port. Arrium Mining's Manager of iron ore exports, Gary Sterrett and Media and Communications Manager, Sean Kelly, took the Advertiser on a tour of the redeveloped site.

ARRIUM will lay off 30 staff at Whyalla and all workers have been asked to take a 10 per cent pay cut.

The miner and steelmaker is fighting for its survival, with both the Whyalla mining and steelmaking divisions running at a loss.

The company, in announcing a $236 million net loss recently, said it was looking at putting one or both operations into “care and maintenance” if adequate cost savings could not be found.

The company has confirmed that 30 jobs from the 1400-strong mining workforce will go.

“The current operating environment is extremely challenging for all mining businesses, and Arrium Mining is no exception,’’ a spokesman for the company said.

“The reality is that the business is not economic and it needs to reset its cost base to be viable. “We need the help of all our mining employees, contractors and external partners to deliver the change needed to make the business viable.

“Lowering our labour costs is a necessity to achieve our target of reducing our loaded cost by A$10 per tone (of iron ore).

“This will involve a reduction of up to 30 staff positions over the coming weeks, as well as all mining employees being asked to contribute to the cost reductions by taking a temporary 10 per cent pay reduction.

“This concession is an interim measure and employees’ pay will return to their previous level once the business can afford to do so.

“This is about every employee — from senior management to the shop floor — contributing to securing the future of the mining business.

“We recognise that this will unfortunately impact on our employees, however these savings are crucial to the survival of the business and therefore pivotal in helping make Arrium Mining viable and sustainable.’’

Over the past year Arrium has cut more than 300 jobs from its OneSteel and contractor workforces and early last year 580 workers lost their jobs when the southern Iron operations were mothballed