ArcelorMittal to fight BEE legal battle

South Africa's biggest steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal says it will contest a R21 million claim launched against it by a women's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) consortium EcoElectrica.

The steel giant confirmed that it has received summons from the company for damages relating to the potential development of a power project in Vanderbijlpark, valued at R1.2 billion.

The company says in a statement that there is no clear legal basis for the claim. It says the project was not financially viable based on the EcoElectrica proposal. EcoElectrica earlier claimed that it initiated the project that would generate electricity from flared waste gas.

EcoElectrica's CEO Vennesa Gounden says ArcelorMittal had done an about turn on the project after the consortium made the project financially viable.