The Russian steel and pipe producer United Metallurgical Company (OMK) has announced that it is to close the tender for choosing the prime contractor to disassemble the blast furnace (BF) No. 2 at its subsidiary Chusovoy Steel Works by the end of April 2009.
Accordingly, the BF's No. 2 first stage of reconstruction, i.e. its disassembly, is scheduled to commence at Chusovoy Steel Works in May 2009, while the decision on the construction of a new unit is to be taken later during the current year.
The reconstruction of the BF No. 2 includes a switch to assembly-type feed of metal charge and metallurgical coke, and a change of the furnace's cooling system. In addition, OMK is to construct a new gas purifying unit.
As a result of the reconstruction, the BF No. 2's annual production capacity will increase to about one million mt, twice as high as the furnace's original capacity. Chusovoy Steel Works' BF shop includes two BFs, No1 and No. 2, with annual capacities of 130,000 mt and 600,000 mt of pig iron respectively.
Chusovoy Steel Works has a complete metallurgical cycle - from the Kachkanar titanomagnetite crude ore to finished products. The factory has a blast furnace shop, a steelmaking duplex shop, two rolling mill shops, a ferroalloy shop, an automotive spring shop, and two auxiliary shops. The mill's open hearth shop has an annual capacity of 500,000 mt of steel per year.