On March 24, Austria-based plantmaker Siemens VAI Metals Technologies announced the receipt of an order from Russia's Kaluzhsky Scientific Industrial Electrometallurgical Plant (Kaluzhsky Steel), a subsidiary of NLMK, to supply equipment for an additional casting format for the continuous billet casting machine in the company's compact steelworks, which is currently being constructed in Vorsino, also by Siemens.
Until now, the 8-strand continuous billet caster was designed for the production of billets with cross-sections of 125 x 125 mm. The additional equipment will enable billets with a cross-section of 150 x 150 mm to be cast.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, in December 2008 Kaluzhsky Steel, a part of NLMK's Maxi Group, entrusted Siemens with the erection of the new compact steelworks in Vorsino, Russia's Kaluga region, scheduled to start operating in 2011. The scope of supply included an electric arc furnace, secondary metallurgical equipment, dedusting equipment, the continuous billet casting machine and the media supply equipment, plus the electrical equipment and automation system. The new plant will produce 1.5 million metric tons of liquid steel per year. The carbon steel and alloy steel produced there will be cast and rolled as billets.