By the end of 2011, the Russian steel producer Ashinskiy Metallurgical Works (Ashinskiy) plans to reach a 90 percent capacity utilization level with its new 120-ton electric arc furnace (EAF-120), as a result of which its steel smelting volume will increase by 25.4 percent year on year, the Russian regional informational agency Ural-Press has reported.
Accordingly, by the end of 2011, Ashinskiy's new EAF-120 is to reach 25 smeltings per day, which will allow the plant to produce 850,000 mt of steel in 2011. In addition, Ashinskiy also plans to increase its sales of steel slabs by nine times to up to 150,000 mt, as well as to raise the output of plate at its first flat steel rolling shop by nine percent to up to 650,000 mt, both compared to 2009.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Ashinskiy's EAF-120, with an annual production capacity of one million mt (27 smeltings per day), was commissioned in late July 2010, following which the plant announced the shutdown of all its three open hearth furnaces, thus completing the liquidation of its open hearth steel production, which had commenced in 1919.