Russian steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) has announced that Novolipetsk, its main production site in Lipetsk, has commissioned a ladle furnace (LF) with an annual output capacity of two million metric tons to produce high-grade steels. This will enable NLMK to manufacture new types of high-quality rolled steels for use in the automotive, mechanical engineering and construction industries.
Novolipetsk has successfully completed guarantee tests at its new 160 tonne ladle furnace No. 1 (LF-1). With its facilities currently in operation, almost 100 percent of steel produced by NLMK undergoes secondary metallurgy treatment.
In April 2012, NLMK completed guarantee tests at its ladle furnace No. 2 (LF-2) which has a similar capacity. The projects were carried out in cooperation with Austria-based Siemens VAI as part of stage two of NLMK's technical upgrade and development program.