The company has spent at least $2.5 billion on the project, whose total cost if built would be at least $10 billion due to delays and permitting costs.
Mines minister Mosebenzi Zwane noted that 19 of the 73 miners who died in South Africa last year lost their lives at operations run by those companies.
Steel the US has traditionally exported to TPP countries is high in value–added, which is exactly the kind of product that helps keeping the high-cost local steelmaking business afloat, analysts warn.