ArcelorMittal says French pollution allegations are groundless

(Reuters) - The world's largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal , said on Tuesday that its internal investigation had found allegations of illicit dumping of acid waste from a French plant were groundless.

The allegations were made in a French newspaper, the Republicain Lorrain, by a former temporary worker of a sub-contractor responsible for disposing of toxic waste from the plant at Florange in northeastern France.

The company said in a statement that the waste in question was not dangerous and had been disposed of in line with regulations.

It said no dumping of pure acid had been done either at a storage area of the Florange site or in the wild.

"Our internal investigation concludes that there is neither fraud nor pollution," said Eric Niedziela, CEO of ArcelorMittal Atlantique and Lorraine.

(Reporting by Camille Raynaud and Manon Jacob; Editing by Adrian Croft)