More than 250 Whyalla plant workers finish work — ABC News Australia

More than 250 workers at the steelworks in Australia’s Whyalla are finishing work this week after accepting redundancy offers. This is the first wave of job losses at the facility, where the elimination of hundreds of positions was announced last month, ABC News reports.

Those leaving the plant include 58-year-old Barry Drage. He worked at the facility for about 20 years in various roles, including industrial cleaner, general hand, fitter and lime kiln operator. Most recently, he worked as a furnace operator.

Drage hopes to find work in Whyalla so that he can remain in his own home. Otherwise, he plans to move to Adelaide for a while and live with a friend. According to him, some workers are also considering employment in Roxby Downs or Western Australia. He believes the city’s economy may remain active if fly-in fly-out workers continue to have housing in Whyalla.

The blast furnace will not be restarted

In September, the state government said that the plant’s blast furnace, which had been shut down for several months, would not be restarted. This put more than 600 jobs at risk. The Whyalla steelworks has entered external administration twice in just over a decade, most recently in February 2025.

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Job search outside the steel industry

At the Employer Connect employment event hosted by one of Whyalla’s hotels, city residents were looking for new job opportunities. Jill Alcock, an operator in the plant’s energy and services division, still does not know whether she will keep her position, but wants to remain in Whyalla, where she has a home and family.

Geoffrey Duance, a mechanical engineer at the pellet plant, will finish work in two weeks. He said the redundancies had already affected local companies that had previously received orders from the steelworks.

Peter White, head of Specialised Crusher Services, said the company was seeking between 20 and 30 workers for permanent part-time and temporary positions in engineering and trade services, as well as for manual work and operating machinery. According to him, the skills of heavy industry workers can be applied in the mining sector.