On June 2, ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih, Ukraine-based subsidiary of the world's largest integrated metals and mining company ArcelorMittal, announced the start of the construction of the first continuous billet caster with an annual capacity of over 1.2 million mt, which will be carried out together with Germany-based plantmaker Siemens VAI Metals Technologies.
This project will include the construction of a ladle furnace and of all related infrastructure and facilities, such as electrical substation, water treatment plant, de-dusting unit, etc. The commissioning of the new concaster, which will produce 150 x 150 mm billets of 9 to 12 m length, is scheduled for September 2011. The investments in the project will amount to about $100 million.
As part of the company's modernization program as well as in line with one of ArcelorMittal's investment obligations according to its sale and purchase agreement for the plant, ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih intends to construct five new continuous billet casters.
"Introducing this new technology has numerous advantages comparing to the one we are currently using: better steel quality, better yield, modern automated production that eliminates the share of manual labor," ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih's project leader Volodymyr Makarenko said, adding that the first feasibility study for the construction of concasters was done in 1985, but for various reasons this technology was not implemented back then.
Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih's CEO Jean Jouet once again raised the VAT refund issue in Ukraine. "The quicker the government resolves the VAT issue and gives us back our cash, the quicker we will be able to renew investment and maintenance programs which in turn will revive the local economy," he said.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih in 2010 plans to invest more than UAH 1.7 billion ($214 million) in the implementation of its modernization projects, including for the completion of capital repairs at its blast furnace No.6, which were started in January this year but later suspended mainly due to the non-refunding of VAT.