Details on Premier Peter Malinauskas’s meeting with Whyalla steelworks’ owner Sanjeev Gupta

Premier Peter Malinauskas has revealed details of his Thursday afternoon meeting with embattled steelworks owner Sanjeev Gupta.

Whyalla steelworks’ owner Sanjeev Gupta has vowed to resume full production within weeks, telling Premier Peter Malinauskas he wants to bring the business back into the black.

Mr Malinauskas told The Advertiser about the pair’s virtual meeting on Thursday afternoon, in which he said Mr Gupta committed to working with creditors to “ensure the businesses’ obligations are being met in a co-ordinated way”.

“This meeting was an important opportunity for Mr Gupta to reassure the South Australian Government of his intention to have the blast furnace back up and running in the coming weeks,” Mr Malinauskas said, in a written statement.

“Mr Gupta assured the South Australian Government of his intention to bring the Whyalla steelworks back up to full production, in light of the recent commercial opportunity presented by a reduction of iron ore and metallurgical coal prices.

“Mr Gupta made it clear it is his intention to bring the business back in black at the soonest available opportunity to restore confidence back to the Whyalla economy.”

Sanjeev Gupta at Whyalla steelworks in 2019. (AAP Image/David Mariuz)

Mr Malinauskas said Mr Gupta, the executive chairman of steelworks’ owner GFG Alliance, committed to remain engaged with the government’s Steel Task Force.

“We appreciate Mr Gupta’s commitment that this is GFG’s highest priority globally. Mr Gupta and GFG are committed to working with their creditors to ensure the businesses’ obligations are being met in a co-ordinated way, which is important for those affected,” he said.

“The South Australian Government remains committed to the realisation of the opportunity that is before the Upper Spencer Gulf, and will continue to monitor and help facilitate as practicably as possible the transformation plans of Mr Gupta.”

The Advertiser on Tuesday revealed the government was seeking urgent advice on its exposure and role should GFG Alliance’s embattled Whyalla steelworks and iron ore operations be placed in voluntary administration, following the blast furnace going offline for the second time in a year last week.

Premier Peter Malinauskas during parliamentary question time. Picture: NewsWire / Roy VanDerVegt

Mr Malinauskas told parliament on Thursday that the Australian steel industry was responding to increasingly slender margins and overseas price competition, particularly from China.

“South Australia and GFG are not immune to these global market pressures,” he said.

Mr Malinauskas said the government would continue to monitor the situation, work closely with GFG and stand by the Whyalla community.

He said that his entire cabinet would hold a meeting in Whyalla on October 21 “to meet with key business and community stakeholders”.

Mr Malinauskas on Wednesday listed five steel firms he had personally held talks with as he declared Whyalla steelworks’ ownership “second” to his long-term green iron plan.

One of those firms, BlueScope, said it had been monitoring reports and felt “great empathy for the workers and businesses in Whyalla”.

BlueScope has provided technical support to the steelworks in the past and would do so again, if required, under certain circumstances. BlueScope has no material exposure to this matter,” a spokesman said.

Premier Peter Malinauskas and Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia in parliament. Picture: NewsWire / Roy VanDerVegt

Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia said the government’s State Prosperity Project, of which green steel and a $593m hydrogen power plant at Whyalla are centrepieces, was “becoming less and less prosperous by the day”.

“As business owners come forward in the town of Whyalla, as people are losing their jobs in the town of Whyalla, they’re all calling on the government to come clean about its contingency plan for the steelworks,” he told parliament.

“I don’t reckon the government has got a plan. I think they are making it up as they go along and I think they’ve been flat-footed when it comes to this failed hydrogen plan as well.”