Kazakh PM demands completion of ArcelorMittal Temirtau audit

ASTANA. Aug 18 (Interfax) - Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov chaired on Friday a meeting that discussed the situation at the Kazakhstanskaya Mine of ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC in the Karaganda region, the press service of the prime minister said in a statement on Friday.

Smailov "ordered the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Ecology to promptly complete the industrial and environmental audits that are being carried out at ArcelorMittal Temirtau," the statement says.

In addition, the prime minister gave the order to provide all necessary support so that the commission should be able to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the causes of the accident at the Kazakhstanskaya Mine. Smailov also ordered that required assistance should be rendered to the families of the miners.

A fire occurred at the Kazakhstanskaya mine of the ArcelorMittal Temirtau coal department on Thursday at 10:05 (7:05 Moscow time). A conveyor belt caught fire in the workings of coal slope D6 (horizon - 170 meters). There were 227 people in the mine, who were brought to the surface through the flank shaft; 222 miners were evacuated, three were found dead, and the search for the other two missing miners continues.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said earlier that "the ongoing accidents at enterprises owned by a foreign company indicate a serious breach of its investment and other obligations with corresponding consequences for the subsequent presence on the Kazakh market."

ArcelorMittal Temirtau, formerly Ispat Karmet in the Karaganda region, the largest steel plant in Kazakhstan, is part of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel company, which acquired the Kazakh plant in mid-1990s. The company owns 15 coal and iron ore mines in Kazakhstan.