The construction of Ukrainian electric furnace steelmaking complex Dneprostal, a subsidiary of Ukrainian pipe company Interpipe, is nearing completion. August 1 saw Interpipe announce that the plant was 80 percent complete and is currently scheduled to be finished by the end of 2011.
Cold and hot tests of the plant are planned to be held in the fourth quarter of 2011.
To date, the installation of two continuous casting machines, which are key parts of the future plant, have been completed. Furthermore, a whole range of crucial apparatus, includings cable transmission lines, the main steel smelting shopfloor, the scrap yard and the ferroalloys warehouse, have all been successfully constructed and assembled.
Moreover, the installation of a gas cleaning vacuum degasser, the installation of the warehouse for billets and blooms and finally the installation of the water treatment plant have almost been completed.
The main construction company responsible for Dneprostal is Italy-based Danieli Heavy Machinery Engineering.
Dneprostal is a key investment project for Interpipe that will provide steel and pipe production with its own billets. The new plant’s capacity will be 1.320 million mt per year, which will make it the largest mill in eastern Europe. Total investments for the project total $700 million.