OneSteel
Encyclopedia
OneSteel is an Australian-based mining, ore processing and steel manufacturing company specialising in steel-long products for the construction, mining, transport and agricultural industries. The company is a former subsidiary of BHP
and was separated from the parent company as part of its corporate restructure in October 2000; the parent went on to merge with Billiton to form the company BHP Billiton
, the world's largest mining company. Onesteel comprises 0.23% of the S&P/ASX 200
index.
OneSteel has 11,000 employees, over 300 locations and 13 offshore facilities, 40,000 products and over 30,000 customers.
for $USD
1.2 billion. However, concerns by the Australian competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
(or ACCC) have resulted in significant delays in this process; as have concerns from Australian construction industry trade union
s regarding possible job losses from the merger of the two operations. This merger was completed in August 2007.
On 15 February 2008 it was announced that one of the bar mills in the Hunter Valley and the mill in Melbourne would be closed.
On 15 November 2010 OneSteel agreed to acquire two companies, Chile-based forged steel grinding balls producer Moly-Cop and Canada-based producer of ball stock for forged grinding balls AltaSteel for a total of $932 million.
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
and was separated from the parent company as part of its corporate restructure in October 2000; the parent went on to merge with Billiton to form the company BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
, the world's largest mining company. Onesteel comprises 0.23% of the S&P/ASX 200
S&P/ASX 200
The S&P/ASX 200 index is a market-capitalization weighted and float-adjusted stock market index of Australian stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange from Standard & Poor's...
index.
OneSteel has 11,000 employees, over 300 locations and 13 offshore facilities, 40,000 products and over 30,000 customers.
Major Divisions of Company
The company has four primary divisions:- Whyalla SteelworksWhyalla SteelworksWhyalla Steelworks is owned by OneSteel which was spun out from BHP in 2000- History :The Whyalla steelworks was first established in May, 1941, with the construction by BHP of a blast furnace and ship yard at Whyalla. At this time, only iron was made and sold as pigs or sent to other BHP Plants...
- The main manufacturing division, producing raw steel at a rate of approximately 1.2 million tonnes per annum at an integrated steel millSteel millA steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
. Primary uses for the product are rails, structural products and steel slabs. Ore is sourced from the OneSteel mines in the Middleback ranges. - Market Mills - Also a manufacturing division, this division produces rod, bar, wire, pipe and tubular steel. Operations include EAFElectric arc furnaceAn electric arc furnace is a furnace that heats charged material by means of an electric arc.Arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one ton capacity up to about 400 ton units used for secondary steelmaking...
melting operations and billet casters at Sydney Steel Mill, Western Sydney and Laverton, Melbourne; a bar mill adjacent at the Sydney Steel Mill, and a rod and bar mill at the Laverton Steel Mill; a rod and wire mill in NewcastleNewcastle, New South WalesThe Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
; and other wire and tube mills located around south-eastern Australia. The Sydney and Laverton meltshops have a combined output of 1.3 million tonnes per annum. A specialty steel mill, with anoutput of 250,000 tonnes per annum, is also located in Newcastle; this division operates an electric arc furnace and produces railway wheels and tyres, grinding media and forgings. A bar mill was also located in Newcastle until 2008, when it was closed. - Domestic Distribution - Distribution of products within the Australian market, including 90 Metaland franchises, retail outlets for consumers in regional Australia. It also includes numerous sites for distribution of products created at the Whyalla Steelworks and the Market Mills. The Distribution businesses include OneSteel Steel & Tube, OneSteel Sheet, Coil & Aluminium, OneSteel Piping Systems, OneSteel Building Systems, OneSteel Oil & Gas.
- International Distribution - Based in New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, via the company's majority holding in the New Zealand company Steel & Tube Holdings Limited. Production and sales include rolled plate, light gauge steel, reinforcement and roofing products. In April 2003, Through Steel & Tubes Holdings Ltd.'s acquired the assets of another New Zealand company, Hurrican Wire Products, expanding operations to include the sale and production of other wire products from facilities in AucklandAucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
and ChristchurchChristchurchChristchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Recent events
In June 2006, an agreement was announced where OneSteel would be buying out scrap metal company Smorgon SteelSmorgon Steel
Smorgon Steel was an Australian steel manufacturing business established in the 1980s by the Smorgon family of Melbourne. The chairman of the company board was Graham Smorgon....
for $USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1.2 billion. However, concerns by the Australian competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is an independent authority of the Australia government. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trade Practices Commission and the Prices Surveillance Authority to administer the Trade Practices Act 1974...
(or ACCC) have resulted in significant delays in this process; as have concerns from Australian construction industry trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s regarding possible job losses from the merger of the two operations. This merger was completed in August 2007.
On 15 February 2008 it was announced that one of the bar mills in the Hunter Valley and the mill in Melbourne would be closed.
On 15 November 2010 OneSteel agreed to acquire two companies, Chile-based forged steel grinding balls producer Moly-Cop and Canada-based producer of ball stock for forged grinding balls AltaSteel for a total of $932 million.