What we do

We recognise that mining can have adverse ecological effects, and are committed to minimising the environmental impact of our activities. We work towards preserving the natural environment around our mines, by taking all possible measures to mitigate adverse affects. This approach is reflected in our environmental programme for Liberia, where our extensive environmental study of the biodiversity around our mine was integral to our planning for the greenfield mine.

Our mines have seen a steady decline in the lost time injury (LTIF) frequency rate, which is the number of injuries that have resulted in loss of work time per million hours worked. Our LTIF rate reduced from 3.40 in 2008 to 2.42 in 2009, 1.53 in 2010, 1.2 in 2011 and 0.7 in 2012.

We currently have 29 mining operations, and produced 55.9 million tonnes of iron ore and 8.2 million tonnes of coal in 2012.

In 2012 our marketable iron ore shipment comprised 28.8 million tonnes, or 51.5% of total iron ore shipment. For coal, it was 5.1 million tonnes, or 62% of total coal shipments.

Currently, in our year of transition, we have split our market areas in two: growth (72%), which comprises China, India, Middle East, Russia and South America, and mature (28%), which comprises Europe and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association) countries. We have developed key trial programmes in Asia and the Middle East with a view to moving into long-term contracts.

For the future, we aim to build a global portfolio of customers who can provide us with the maximum offtake through the steel cycles from our mining operations. Our aim is to develop a customer portfolio of first-class steel mills, which in turn have first-class steel customers.

ArcelorMittal has iron ore mines in Algeria, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada, Kazakhstan, Mexico, South Africa, the US, Ukraine and Liberia.

ArcelorMittal has coal reserves in Kazakhstan, Russia and the US. We also have strategic and long term agreements with Tshikondeni in South Africa and Madison in the US.

We are expanding production capacity at our mines in Canada. With an annual production of 15 million tonnes, we account for 40% of the country’s iron ore production, and are expanding concentrator capacity to achieve 24 million tonnes of yearly production by 2013. In Brazil, we aim to expand annual production of our Andrade mines to 3.5 million tonnes by 2012.

Mining at Nunavut at Baffin Island will be a greenfield venture, with construction, operation, closure and reclamation of an open pit mine.

At this stage a draft environmental impact statement has been submitted for review by the Inuit and governmental agencies with the goal of minimising environmental impact at every stage of the mine’s development.