Mechel commissions new billet caster

Mechel, one of the leading Russian mining and metal companies, has announced the commissioning of a new continuous billet caster at its subsidiary Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant (CMP). The new billet caster with annual capacity of over one million metric tons of 100 mm and 180 mm square and 150 mm round billets cost Mechel over $100 million. The new billet caster is one of the main projects in Mechel's modernization program, which is aimed at increasing the performance of the company's steel segment through reducing electric power, crude steel and ferroalloy consumption per metric ton of billet produced and also significantly improving the quality of finished products. A large portion of the billet caster's output will be used for production of wire rod and other hardware production at Mechel's other subsidiary – Beloretsk Metallurgical Plant. Meanwhile, the remaining output will be allocated for production of high quality rebars, including thermo-strengthened rebars at CMP. The equipment for the new billet caster was supplied by the Italian company Danieli.