The Russian steelmaking company Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) has announced the commissioning of its second high-capacity ladle furnace with an annual capacity of four million metric tons at its main production site in Lipetsk.
The total capacity of the two ladle furnaces (the first one was commissioned in late March this year ) amounts to approximately eight million mt per year, and will allow a reduction in refining costs, ensure maximum quality improvement and will boost output of new steel grades for automotive products, white goods and tube manufacturing. The investment in the construction of the two facilities has amounted to over Ruble 3 billion (about $97.2 million).
The project has been implemented in cooperation with Austria-based plantmaker Siemens VAI as part of the second stage of NLMK's technical upgrade program, within the framework of which NLMK is planning in 2011 to commission two more ladle furnaces with a total capacity of four million mt per year at the Lipetsk production site.
In total, these new facilities will be able to process about 12 million mt of steel per year.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, by 2012 NLMK aims to increase its liquid steel capacity by 40 percent to 17 million mt, including from nine million mt to 12.4 million mt at its Lipetsk site.