Latvia’s Liepājas Metalurgs closes the last of its three open hearth furnaces

The only steel company in the Baltic states, Latvia-based Liepājas Metalurgs, has announced that on December 28, 2010, it closed the last of its three open hearth furnaces, which had been operating at the plant since 1965.
 
In 2007, Liepājas Metalurgs started its multimillion dollar program for the modernization of its production facilities, the main goal of which was to move away from the use of outdated and economically less profitable open hearth furnaces in steel production, which will be replaced in 2011 by a new modern electric arc furnace and ladle furnace. The project cost is estimated at €85 million. Steel production with the new technology is planned to be started in autumn 2011, and will allow Liepājas Metalurgs to increase its output by one third from the current 550,000 mt to 850,000 mt of steel per year.