4 September 2023

On August 17...a fire erupted at the Kazakhstanskaya mine, a part of ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC...The fire led to 13 miners being hospitalized and five tragically losing their lives. This incident undortunately is not an isolated one - ArcelorMittal's mining operations in Kazakhstan have witnessed around 13 significact accidents since its establishment in 1995, resulting in over 140 fatalities and numerous severe injuries...

The underlying causes of these accidents, primarily outbreaks of methane gas and sudden gas emissions, have been attributed to insufficient safety measures...

It is quite frequent that the victims of fatal accidents do not obtain fair compensation...

ArcelorMittal is not only accountable for its workers' safety but also for the environmental impact of its operations. The company is a top polluter in Kazakhstan. The pollution caused by ArcelorMittal's plants has been linked to various ecological problems, including black snowfall recorded in Temirtau in 2018...

Apart from the exceeded emissions, the problem is exacerbated by the close proximity of the plant location. As per Kazakh law, the plant must be located no closer than 1 km to the residential area. In fact the closest house to ArcelorMittal's plant's fence is in 500 meters of proximity...

It is disheartening to note that ArcelorMittal operates ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC in flagrant disregard of EU emissions limits, while the European plants adhere to these standards...

...[I]n Kazakhstan it violates not only the environmental standards, but it also egregiously neglects worker safety, resulting in over 140 fatalities since their entrance to Kazakstan...