Mittal 'summoned' to Kazakhstan after mine blast

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Abai (Kazakhstan), January 12:: The CEO of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, is to visit Kazakhstan on Monday following a blast that killed at least seven people at one of his Kazakh mines, officials said.

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Umirzak Shukeyev told reporters near the scene of the accident that ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal had been ‘summoned’ by the government and was expected to arrive on Monday.

The explosion at the Abai mine in central Kazakhstan yesterday killed seven people. Officials said today that the chances of finding 23 more miners missing after the blast were ‘minimal.’

Rescue work at the mine was halted today because of fears of another explosion following a build-up of methane gas, as a fire sparked by Friday's blast continued to rage underground.

The blast was the latest deadly incident in this former Soviet republic involving Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal.

Blasts at another Mittal-owned mine in the region in 2004 and 2006 killed a total of 64 miners.

Trade unions have criticised ArcelorMittal for failing to ensure adequate safety in the mines. The company was forced to pay extra compensation to the families of miners killed in one of the blasts after a lawsuit last year.

But Mittal defended his company's record in a statement issued yesterday.

"The safety of our workers is our number one priority and there has been a significant capital expenditure, change in operating practices and a change in management to improve health and safety at our mines in Kazakhstan," he said.

ArcelorMittal uses coal from the mines to feed its Temirtau iron and steel mill in Karaganda, an industrial region located in the centre of this resource-rich Central Asian state.