Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, a subsidiary of Russian mining and steel producing group Mechel, plans to recommission at the end of March its blast furnace No. 4, which was stopped for overhaul on November 10, 2008, and was scheduled to restart its operations in April 2009.
As a result of the overhaul, the capacity of the blast furnace has been increased by ten percent, allowing the facility to produce 1.2 million mt of pig iron per year.
Currently, Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant is operating its blast furnaces No. 1 and No. 5, with production capacities of 1.3 million mt and 1.1 million mt of pig iron respectively. By recommissioning its blast furnace No. 4, the plant will be able to increase its daily output of pig iron by 40 percent to 10,500 mt.