Russian mining and steel producing group Mechel announced on August 23 that it has launched its new converter No. 2 in its Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant's oxygen converter shop. Replacement of the converter is the first stage of the plant's reconstruction program for its oxygen converter shop which includes full replacement of the shop's three converters, dedusting tracts and their infrastructure equipment.
The new converter No. 2's launch will enable Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant to increase cast weight from 140 mt to 152 mt and cut down on the time required for cast treatment. Once the program will be completed by 2013, the shop's steel annual output will go up by 950,000 mt to a total of 4,550,000 mt.
Today the oxygen-converter shop includes three converters and two high-capacity concasters (CCMs). The plant's complex technical re-equipment program also includes construction of a ladle furnace, a vacuum degasser and the concaster No. 5, which will produce billets for Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant's major investment project of a universal rolling mill.