JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Eighty per cent of the capacity of Xstrata-Merafe ferrochrome venture was now shut, but no lay-offs of permanent employees were anticipated, the JSE-listed Merafe Resources said on Friday.

Merafe announced on December 1 that 11 Xstrata-Merafe furnaces had been suspended, representing 906 000 t/y of ferrochrome operating capacity.

Subsequent to this, Merafe said that a further six furnaces had been suspended owing to market conditions.

The total suspended ferrochrome production capacity, Merafe said, now represented 1,37-million tons or 80% of annual operating capacity.

The black economically empowered Merafe said that the venture would continue to monitor prevailing market conditions closely.

"No lay-offs are anticipated for permanent employees at the furnaces," the company said.

The retention of full-time personnel would enable the venture to return to capacity quickly and efficiently when market conditions allowed, Merafe added.

Merafe, through the Xstrata-Merafe chrome venture, participated in chrome mining and the beneficiation of chrome ore into ferrochrome.

The company said that currently its major assets consisted of the Kenana upper group two (UG2) beneficiation plant, a ferrochrome smelter at Boshoek in South Africa's North West Province, at which chrome ore was beneficiated into ferrochrome, and the Horizon chrome mine, which produced chrome ore.

Merafe also owned half of  the Kroondal resources; a 26% of the Marikana resources; 20,5% of the Lion Ferrochrome smelting complex and the Mototolo UG2 plant situated in South Africa's Mpumalanga province; 20,5% interest in the EPL UG2 plant and the Rustenburg pelletiser in the North West province, and 20,5% of the Bokamoso pelletising and sintering plant. The ferrochrome output was marketed to the stainless steel industry.

Final results for the 12 months to December 2008 would be released on March 2, following the company's annual general meeting on April 29.

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