Sinosteel Midwest, formed in 2008 when Sinosteel took over iron ore miner Midwest, said on Thursday it had stopped all major work at its Weld Range project, laid off 43 workers and closed its office in the port town of Geraldton. The company cited setbacks in the progress of the Oakajee Port and Rail project as the reason for its decision to “park” the project and said probable further delays beyond a recently revised completion date of 2015 would cost Sinosteel’s Australian unit A$100m per year.
中钢中西矿业公司(Sinosteel Midwest)周四表示，它已停止澳大利亚Weld Range项目所有的重要工作，裁掉43名工人，同时关闭了位于港口城市杰拉尔顿的办事处。中钢中西是中钢(Sinosteel)于2008年收购澳洲铁矿石矿商中西部公司(Midwest)后成立的。中钢中西指出，之所以决定“暂停”Weld Range项目，是因为Oakajee港口和铁路项目进程受阻。它还表示，虽然不久前Oakajee项目的预计完成日期已推迟至2015年，但实际完成日期可能进一步延误，这将导致它每年支出1亿澳元。