ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the Kazakhstan-based subsidiary of steel giant ArcelorMittal, has announced that it has started the construction of a new 1.2 million mt capacity six-strand continuous square billet caster for its long steel producing facility.
"The construction of the new concaster will not only increase our production capacity from four to five million mt of steel per year, but also will allow us to produce qualitative long steel products, as rebar, angles, channels, T-sections. This backs our intention to expand our activities in Kazakhstan, and to increase the range of products offered to consumers," ArcelorMittal Temirtau chief executive Frank Pannier said.
The new continuous billet caster will provide ArcelorMittal Temirtau's long steel producing facility with its own square billets, which currently are imported from Ukraine and Russia, and will allow the company to increase the competitiveness of its products.
Accordingly, the construction of the new continuous billet caster together with projects for the repair and modernization of blast furnaces, scheduled for 2010-2011, is in line with the company's target to increase its steel output to six million mt per year. In 2008, ArcelorMittal said it plans to double its steel output in Kazakhstan to ten million mt a year by 2013.
The financial details, as well as the duration of the project, have not been disclosed.