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HARMONY Gold Mining & DRD Gold yesterday withdrew their seven-year-long complaint against ArcelorMittal for charging excessive prices for steel products in a case that could have cost ArcelorMittal R692m.

The companies said the settlement would be the end of this matter. But a second probe into collusive behaviour among steel companies, including ArcelorMittal , continues.

The second investigation was launched by the competition commission and has been referred to the competition tribunal . The decision could result in ArcelorMittal having to pay a penalty of 10% of annual domestic sales as well as the value of its exports in its previous financial year.

Harmony (NYSE:HMY)and DRDGold (NYSE:DROOY) complained to the competition authorities in 2002 about the price ArcelorMittal, then Iscor, was charging for flat steel products.

In late 2007 the competition tribunal imposed a fine of R692m on ArcelorMittal, which the group appealed. The Competition Appeal Court suspended the penalty and referred the matter back to the tribunal for further investigation. Harmony and DRDGold said they were disappointed with the ruling.

The parties declined to reveal the details of the agreement and ArcelorMittal said it had been reached without any admission of liability. ArcelorMittal communications manager Sven Lünsche and Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr attorney Nick Altini, who acted for Harmony, would not say whether this was a financial settlement.

If ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) had lost the case, the penalty would have been payable to the state, not to the complainants.

The parties said the agreement would enable them to focus on their core activities rather than pursuing costly litigation. Altini said it had previously been placed on record that Harmony and DRDGold had spent less than R20m so far on legal costs pursuing their complaint.

In a separate statement, the competition commission said it had found 11 companies involved in the distribution of wire and wire products in SA, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia had engaged in collusion. It had referred its findings to the tribunal, with a recommendation that the companies pay 10% of each company’s turnover in the preceding financial year.