GFG Alliance finalizes new financing for Wyalla plant – Gupta

GFG Alliance is in the process of actively finalizing new financing for its steel plant in Wyalla, Australia. This was stated in a statement by GFG Alliance Executive Chairman and Liberty Steel Group CEO Sajiv Gupta.

The announcement was made shortly after the South Australian government revealed that GFG owed it about $15 million for water, in addition to a large debt to contractors working at the plant and unpaid mining royalties.

According to the statement, GFG’s business in Vialla is currently going through one of the most difficult periods in its history. The group has invested heavily to keep the operation going, and it will remain a top priority for the company.

The prolonged outage at the blast furnace, the statement said, has been damaging, but the group is making good progress.

«Enormous effort is being expended to bring the blast furnace back to full operation and those efforts continue as we stabilise and accelerate production,» Gupta said in the statement.

He adds that the company will not be distracted from this work, especially as the blast furnace needs to be carefully managed to ensure its stability during the ramp-up phase.

The company reports that the Back to Black initiative is helping to steadily increase production.

«Our revenue, through additional steel sales, is continually increasing and we have already reduced our losses in the steelworks by more than 30% since the restart of the blast furnace,» Sajiv Gupta said in a statement.

The group adds that to accelerate the recovery, it is finalizing new financing, although the process has taken a little longer than expected. This financing, along with the achievements through the Back to Black initiative, is part of the path to creating tangible financial progress with creditors.

Gupta also expressed optimism that steel markets will recover in 2025 after a long period of decline. He said that the company continues to discuss future options in the energy sector to realize its green steel aspirations and cooperation with the state government.

According to Australian media reports, GFG’s subsidiary Liberty Primary Metals Australia has debts to the state government Last year, a shortage of coking coal led to a blast furnace shutdown at the Wyalla steel mill. In early 2024, the furnace was out of service for 3.5 months due to excessive cooling after a scheduled maintenance shutdown in March.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Liberty Steel lost control of its assets in Eastern Europe due to a debt to ArcelorMittal.