ArcelorMittal South Africa will pay a fine of 3.64 million rand ($219,658) relating to charges it exceeded hydrogen sulfide minimum emissions standards at its Vanderbijlpark operations in 2016, it said on Wednesday.
The company, majority-owned by ArcelorMittal, said a plea agreement for the charges that related to its hydrogen sulfide emissions at the coke making plant from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2016 was accepted by the court.
"While we acknowledge that emissions at our Vanderbijlpark plant exceeded permissible H2S levels for a period of time in the past, steps were taken to address the problem but unfortunately the initiatives implemented did not adequately resolve the problem," said Kobus Verster, chief executive of ArcelorMittal South Africa.
Verster said a sustainable solution to address the emissions has since been implemented.
The company received a summons last year instituting criminal proceedings for charges relating to transgressions of its atmospheric emissions.
Vanderbijlpark Works, in the country's Gauteng province, is one of the world's largest inland steel mills.
($1 = 16.5712 rand)
(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by David Goodman and Louise Heavens)
