Shareholders have railed against Arrium's executive pay and the struggling steelmaker's thoughts of selling its only profitable business.
Arrium chairman Jerry Maycock said the nearly 60 per cent vote against the pay policy at the company's annual general meeting was disappointing, but he understood the context in which it was made.
He also said it was expected after a large shareholder informed the company it would not be supporting the motion.
A strike is recorded if 25 per cent or more of the votes are cast against the motion. Australian companies are required to hold a board spill vote if they record two strikes in a row.
The company had recommended no increases in executive pay, and had frozen fees for non-executive directors as well.
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However, that clearly wasn't enough to satisfy shareholders frustrated by the nearly 70 per cent slump in Arrium shares over the last 12 months. On Tuesday, the stock closed down 1.2 per cent at 8.2 cents.
Arrium has been hit hard by the plunge in iron ore and steel prices over the past year, delivering a full year loss of $1.9 billion after being forced to take asset impairments and restructuring costs in its 2014/15 accounts.
The company announced a strategic review in August in an effort to reduce its estimated debt pile of $1.7 billion, and subsequently said it is considering the sale of its Moly-Cop mining consumables business, which is its only currently profitable business.
Arrium, formerly known as OneSteel, has also moved to slash costs in its higher-cost steelmaking and iron ore mining businesses.
This year alone, it has halved its mining operations in South Australia and axed hundreds of jobs.
"Lowering the company's overall cost base and improving productivity levels is one of the key priorities," chief executive Andrew Roberts told shareholders on Tuesday.
Reducing debt and strengthening the balance sheet was another key priority, he added.
Shareholders however, continued to question the board's efforts and expressed concern over the company's future.
They urged the chair to urgently renew the board and fix responsibility for the erstwhile decision to expand the iron ore mining business almost entirely through debt.
Other shareholders questioned the need for the company to consider selling its Moly-Cop business, given its strong growth prospects.
Earlier, Mr Roberts said the company is seeing increased demand in the steel and mining consumables businesses, which could lead to improved earnings in the second half of the financial year.
However, the key iron ore business continues to be impacted by volatile prices and the company is looking at further reducing its breakeven price.
The company cut a further 250 jobs on Monday at its Whyalla steelworks as it looks for cost savings.
