The Russian mining and steel producer Evraz Group has announced that its board of directors have approved investment for the construction of Yuzhny Rolling Mill in the Rostov region near the port of Ust-Donetsk in Southern Russia and of Kostanay Rolling Mill in Kazakhstan.
Accordingly, Evraz's Yuzhny Mill, expected to be commissioned in the middle of 2013, will have a production capacity of approximately 450,000 mt of light sections per annum, including 315,000 mt of rebar and 135,000 mt of angles and channels. The new mill is expected to be supplied with billets from Evraz's Ukrainian steel plant, DMZ. The total cost of the project is estimated to be approximately $158 million.
Meanwhile, Kostanay Mill in Kazakhstan, expected to be launched in mid-2013, will have a production capacity of about 450,000 mt of rebar per annum. Evraz's Siberian plants ZSMK and NKMK will supply billets to this mill. The total investment in the project is expected to be approximately $131 million.
The Kostanay Mill will be constructed jointly with Evraz's local partner Caspian Group, with Evraz owning a 65 percent stake in the project. Evraz has already obtained the necessary anti-monopoly and construction permits for the implementation of the Kostanay project.
Both of these projects are aligned with Evraz's strategy of shifting from the production of semi-finished to finished products and of vertical integration in the steel value chain.