OM Holdings Limited Provides Business Update on its Malaysian Operations
July 05, 2021 at 01:02 am EDT
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OM Holdings Limited provided a business update on its Malaysian operations further to the announcement made on 28 May 2021. The Company's smelter complex in Sarawak, Malaysia ("OM Sarawak" or the "Plant") has been temporarily suspended since 28 May 2021 following directions from relevant Government Authorities. The Company is now pleased to announce that it has been granted approval to resume operations. Accordingly, operations have recommenced initially with four furnaces within a phased plan to ramp-up production in stages given the constrained manpower environment and the Company's focus to prioritise employee safety. As a result of the temporary suspension at the Plant, the Company had declared force majeure on all its sales contracts and its power purchase agreement until the Plant is able to resume and achieve steady state operations. During the temporary suspension, the Company was able to partially mitigate the impact to its supply chain by arranging for partial delivery of processed material to customers through third party logistic service providers. Multiple rounds of COVID-19 testing were conducted throughout June 2021. As at the time of writing, a total of 37 employees remain in quarantine. As a result of actively managing the segregation of Plant employees and continued COVID-19 testing, the Company has been granted approval by the Bintulu Division Disaster Management Committee to resume operations, and the lockdown on the affected premises has been lifted. The Company has initially recommenced operations with four furnaces earlier last week, operated by employees who have tested negative and been cleared to resume work, with a plan to ramp up production in stages, subject to manpower availability and further clearances from relevant authorities. Given on-going restrictions, such as the extension of the Movement Control Order (the "MCO") for Sarawak and taking into consideration the safety and wellbeing of all employees following a prolonged quarantine period, it is expected that the Plant may not be able to return to prior production levels in the short term.
OM Holdings Limited is a Singapore-based vertically integrated manganese ore and ferroalloy company. The Company supplies manganese ores and ferroalloys. Through its global trading network, the Company distributes products from its Asia-Pacific base to customers across the world. The Company is engaged in the business of trading raw ores, smelting and marketing processed ferroalloys. Its businesses include Bootu Creek Mine, Samalaju Smelting Complex, Qinzhou Smelter, Marketing & Trading, and Tshipi Borwa. The Company operates through three segments: Mining, Smelting, and Marketing and trading. The Mining segment is engaged in the exploration and mining of manganese ore. The Smelting segment is engaged in the production of manganese ferroalloys, ferrosilicon and manganese sinter ore. The Marketing and trading segment is engaged in the trading of manganese ore, manganese ferroalloys, ferrosilicon, sinter ore, chrome ore and iron ore.