Russian steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) announced on June 16 that it has started the installation of main equipment for the revamped continuous casting machine No. 3 at its main production site in Lipetsk.
As a result, the new machine's production capacity will increase by more than 300,000 mt per year, up to 1 million mt per year. The company will produce a mix of high-quality slabs of various steel grades with its renewed machine. Product mix will expand with an increase in maximum slab thickness from 240 mm to 315 mm, allowing NLMK to roll wide thick plate at its DanSteel and Clabecq subsidiaries in Europe.
Launch of the revamped continuous casting machine is planned for Q4 2011. Total investments in the projects exceed Ruble 3.7 billion (about $120 million).
The project is part of NLMK's ongoing strategy to increase steelmaking capacity in various domains such as liquid steel capacity or finished rolled product output.