The Whyalla community has been given an insight into the "MacGyver" like ingenuity of the town's steelworkers as they attempted to keep the business going despite chronic under funding by owner GFG. Administrator KordaMentha telling a meeting that the business is now being stabilised with 60 new staff employed and millions of dollars beginning to flow to creditors who are owed money. ABC News was given exclusive access to steelworks as the business attempts to begin the long road back to recovery.
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00:00In the heart of the Waila Steelworks, the blast furnace is running at perfect capacity.
00:08A clear contrast to when it stalled last year under former owner, GFG.
00:13We talk about a lot of our employees being almost MacGyver-like in so far as they're
00:18using their own skills and their own assets in some circumstances to create solutions
00:23that keep the business safe.
00:24Kortamentha Administrator, Sebastian Hames, telling the Waila community money is starting
00:29to flow to creditors. 35 businesses have so far been paid $6.8 million, funded out
00:36of the Federal and State multi-billion dollar rescue plan.
00:39We're a little to no work here in Waila and without that, yeah, we manage to retain all
00:45our employees.
00:46But former steelworker turned creditor, David Birdseye, hasn't been as lucky. The 60-year-old
00:51began his retirement on the day GFG's operation went into administration and is still waiting
00:57for his entitlements.
00:58You know, you work all your life to retire and then unfortunately, you know, when you
01:03do retire, things go bad and then you just have to scramble and survive best you can.
01:10Kortamentha though is now reversing recent job losses, employing 63 new workers at the
01:16steelworks and mines with funds from the rescue package. But it's already indicated it'll
01:21need more money.
01:22The government support is absolutely unwavering, but it's not a blank cheque. I mean, these
01:27are professional administrators who understand that their job is to stand this business up
01:32and to find a new owner.
01:34Kortamentha says up to 12 different companies remain interested in buying the business and
01:40expects to update them in the next couple of weeks.
01:44We're hoping to have a sale of this business in this calendar year, but there's a lot of
01:49moving parts that we need to settle in order to achieve that goal.
01:52The ultimate aim of helping Whaler use its industrial heritage to build a prosperous
01:57future.