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.
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