Is it a tower? Is it a trumpet? Is it a “shish pipe” (as London Mayor Boris Johnson joked)? Whatever you think of the breathtaking sculpture by Turner Prize winning artist Anish Kapoor, who was assisted by one of the world’s leading structural designers, Cecil Balmond, the ArcelorMittal Orbit is already becoming the world’s most popular conversation piece with over 50,000 Twitter mentions only hours after the design’s unveiling at a Press Conference in London. And that’s a good thing!

The suspense was electric at the press conference on March 31. Journalists were invited to hear breaking news concerning the 2012 Olympic Games and they were not disappointed. London Mayor     Boris Johnson and ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO, Lakshmi Mittal unveiled the artist and design chosen to create a spectacular new visitor attraction in Olympic Park – the ArcelorMittal Orbit.

With cameras flashing during Boris’s speech (surely the most entertaining mayor ever) he told the story of how a 45 second chance meeting with Mr Mittal in a cloak room in Davos eventually led to ArcelorMittal’s 16 million£ funding towards a new icon steel structure for the city as well as the Group’s two tier sponsorship of the Olympic and Paralympics Games to support the infrastructure and success of 2012.

Kapoor said that that the Orbit’s bold non-linear design came out of the challenge to redefine what a tower is. Calling the resulting sculpture a “dynamic representation of a city coming out of a recession,” Boris thanked ArcelorMittal, along with the artistic input of Kapoor and Balmond, for helping to give the city of London an attraction that will last long after the Olympics have come and gone.

A smiling Mr Mittal said that the Orbit not only demonstrates to people the beauty that steel can achieve, but that the Olympics are a global event, and as ArcelorMittal is a truly global company, it is the right moment for ArcelorMittal to offer something to the City of London that was truly global in scope and appeal. A quick look at the internet a few short minutes after the design was unveiled showed that news of it – and debate about the choice – has already been travelling around the world and back again.

Picture taken by mayoroflondon

In 2008 CERN acquired a new particle accelerator: the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), which was then installed in a tunnel 27 km long, located 100 metres underground. When fully operational, trillions of protons, accelerated to 99.99% of the speed of light, make 11 245 laps of the accelerator per second and allow physicists to study the smallest known particles: the elementary building blocks of matter.

Thanks to close collaboration between ArcelorMittal’s R&D and techno commercial teams, our Group won the contract to supply steel for the accelerator by proposing a new high thickness steel which met CERN’s expectations perfectly.

Our understanding of the universe may be about to change with the aid of the LHC and the $10bn project has been described as the world’s largest scientific experiment.

Two beams of protons began 10 days ago to speed at high energy in opposite directions around the tunnel under the Swiss-French border at Geneva. The beams have been pushed to 3.5 trillion electron volts, the highest energy achieved by any physics accelerator. Scientists have now succeeded to force the two beams to cross, creating collisions and showers of particles. The first step towards the explanation of the big bang, and using ArcelorMittal steel!

Collaboration: Dieter Vandenhende, Flat Carbon Europe & Automotive Worldwide, ArcelorMittal 

“Why a new season of the Web TV, and why now?” you may wonder. In the last 18 months we have seen projects suspended, ArcelorMittal colleagues leaving, orders from our customers halted, our steel production falling by almost 50%, then picking up again… and just now, the Web TV comes back, and with renewed energy. Here is why.

Many things have changed in the last few months, but our brand attitude ‘boldness’ has not: we were quite bold dealing with the crisis, being the first to announce very tough measures.

Now that we see signs of recovery, we turn a camera on ourselves in a still fragile period and document the story as it happens. While we do, we are not yet certain of how it is going to play out for our Group, the industry or quite frankly, the economy of the world in general. It is, literally, history in the making. More than transparent, it is a very bold way to do business, isn’t it?

In the worst moments of the crisis and also now, we believe in communication. And good communication is a 2-way road… that is why at the heart of Web TV 2010, and beyond the video episodes, we are allowing people inside and out of the company to participate in open discussions and criticism, but inviting you to do so in an increasingly user friendly format. 

Is it for real? Check out the discussion on our CR activities in India, or the reaction generated to our donation to Haiti victims, and decide for yourself…

In cooperation with publishers Edition DETAIL, ArcelorMittal Distribution Solutions’ Innovation & Construction Development team has just published a new book. It talks about the inspiration and technology of steel in construction as well as the state of art of steel in today’s architecture.

In a preface jointly authored by Detail and ArcelorMittal, it explains that: “The aim is the promotion of steel as the favoured construction and building material giving all necessary information to enable planners and decision makers, above all architects and engineers, to base their project concepts and pre-design on steel solutions.”

DETAIL – Institute for international architectural documentation, is specialised in communication to architects for 50 years. The book lists over 25 projects with stunning pictures printed on high gloss paper. Aimed primarily at architects, and written by a host of well known international authors, this hardcover book also helps to position our Group and its offers as a benchmark in terms of competencies and performance within any steel application in construction.

Collaboration: ArcelorMittal Distribution Solutions – Innovation & Construction Development
Are you interested in buying a copy of this book? www.detail.de

On January 5, 2010, ArcelorMittal Mines Canada awarded Captain James Augustine, commander of the BW Arctic, the traditional ‘iron-headed cane’ for being the first transatlantic ore carrier to sail into the Company’s private Canadian harbour in 2010.

The BW Arctic, built in 2001 and flying the Panama flag, docked at 9 a.m. on January 1. The vessel, which has a capacity of 174,285 deadweight tonnes and carries an Indian crew of 26, headed back out to sea two days later after taking on 110,000 tonnes of iron pellets and 49,000 tonnes of iron concentrate for Corus’ Port Talbot steel plant in the United Kingdom. It will take about 10 days to reach its destination across the Atlantic Ocean.

“This shipment is the first of many ArcelorMittal Mines Canada looks forward to in 2010,” said Côme Desmeules, General Manager, Pellet Plant and Port. “Our port is still Canada’s largest private facility in terms of volume handled. We are very proud to receive vessels like the BW Arctic, which carry our quality products around the world.”

In 2009, the ArcelorMittal Mines Canada port received 340 ships and transhipped over 18 million tonnes of iron concentrate and pellets as well as grain for shipment to customers in America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Collaboration: Martin Simard, Quebec Steel and Mining Operations

ArcelorMittal was very active in the XI Pampulha International Lap, a traditional street race held every year around the Pampulha Lake in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.

Sunday December 6, 2009 was the date of this year’s race. Congratulations to our Brazilian colleagues who formed an ArcelorMittal team of 150 runners who ran the 18 kms with the company brand on their T-shirts! Employees of 12 other companies in Brazil and their relatives also participated. The best timing among the ArcelorMittal runners belongs to José Wanderley Estevam Gomes, from the Drawing Area, with 1h04min33s. The over all winner (men) was Kenyan athlete Nicholas Koech, with 52min48s.

ArcelorMittal Brasil put together a support structure for its employees, who gathered in the Ipê Club, on the margins of the Pampulha Lake, close to the start location. On Saturday, the day before the run, they were given the official run kit, the ArcelorMittal kit and light snacks. On Sunday, the day of the race, they were given breakfast and were able to do stretch and warm up exercises supervised by a sports assistance. After the run, there was massage and hydro gym at the club. The programme finished with a get together barbecue and a musical show. Sounds like hard work, but also a lot of fun!

Collaboration: Eimar Fonseca Magalhães, ArcelorMittal Brasil
Photo: ArcelorMittal Team – Pampulha International Lap

Sunday, January 11 2009, marked the anniversary of the tragic accident which occurred at ArcelorMittal’s Abayskaya mine in Kazakhstan. It is important that we remember the 30 victims and the suffering of their families, friends and colleagues.

A memorial was erected for the 30 miners killed in the Abayskaya explosion. Yet another way our Group marks this anniversary is by taking stock of the Health and Safety improvements that have been made and by reaffirming our commitment from the highest level and throughout our entire Group.

David Vint, General Manager for Health and Safety Mining operations and currently present in Kazakhstan, attended the memorial service for the victims on the 11th.  “ArcelorMittal continues to work with the Government to improve and modernise the coal mines in Kazakhstan,” he said. “We remain committed to the H&S programme which is designed to eliminate these tragic incidents in our coal mining operations.”

ArcelorMittal Temirtau CEO Frank Pannier said: “During the last months, the Company had put into place a comprehensive investment programme to address some of the more urgent shortfalls related to Health and Safety conditions in the mines. This is comprised of not only supplies of state-of-the-art equipment for mining, but also ventilation technology and gas warning devices. It also provides funds for Health and Safety training and research. All these measures are part of a 5 year programme designed to give us the intended results – the likelihood of a reduction in tragic accidents. Our sympathy is with the families of those of our colleagues who suffered as a result of the tragic events of 2007 and 2008.”

Picture: Memorial erected for the 30 miners killed in the explosion in Abayskaya

On November 21, staff members from ArcelorMittal South Africa’s Shared Service Centre dressed up as clowns to entertain children from 19 charity organisations during the annual handover of gifts to about 1,200 sick and needy children of the region.

ArcelorMittal South Africa’s Corporate Office, Vanderbijlpark Works and Vereeniging Works have been the main sponsors of the Wish Upon a Star charity project since 2005. The aim of the project is to make a difference and fulfil the dreams of disabled, sick and needy children in care centres in the Vaal Region.

The wishes of some of these children are broadcast on IFM 102.2 (ArcelorMittal South Africa’s own community of interest radio station). “The response from ArcelorMittal South Africa employees and the community has been overwhelming since the inception of the campaign 4 years ago”, says Dave Hammond, Managing Director IFM 102.2. “We have hundreds of toys and gifts donated and huge cash donations pledged every year.  It gets better and better every year! ”

Collaboration: Elize Zywotkiewicz, ArcelorMittal South Africa

Back in September 2008, we launched our global ‘Journey to Zero’ competition on our intranet and in local editions of our  ‘1′ magazine. Over 2 months, 80 entries and some difficult judging later, we are delighted to announce our winners.

Congratulations, first of all, to Kelly Callebaut from ArcelorMittal Gent, who is the winner in both the adult category and overall! Kelly’s winning illustration will be used in Group-wide communications on our global Health and Safety improvement initiative: Journey to Zero.

But Kelly is not alone. 9 year old, Claire Zhou, daughter of Mingxiong Zhou at ArcelorMittal China, is the winner in the under 16s category for her uplifting sun illustration.

A huge thank you to all participants for their help in making our Journey to Zero an initiative that is widely held and deeply felt. It was a tough decision for our judges, but it is all the more rewarding to see the enthusiasm and effort that went into all entries. This bodes well for our journey to success!

In its November 2008 issue, Ethical Corporation – an independent media firm that encourages debate and discussion on responsible business – reviewed our first Corporate Responsibility Report.

In the past, Ethical Corporation has written well-balanced articles about the challenges we are facing in India and Liberia. So, its review of our report is a great opportunity to get an outside opinion of our progress so far.

Overall,  everyone in the Corporate Responsibility team felt that the review was quite positive as well as providing lots of good feedback for further improvements. The article commends our methodological approach to the development of our corporate responsibility strategy and stakeholder engagement programmes. But perhaps what is most valuable to us is the suggested areas of improvements which include data disclosure, especially with regards to our mining operations, climate change and diversity.

We know we are not perfect, nor could we have expected a flawless first review but this review does show us that we are on the right road to achieving our goal of becoming the most admired company in the world and we are gaining speed quickly.

Author: Tobin Postma, Corporate CR Team