Mechel, one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, has announced that its Southern Urals Nickel Plant has launched an experimental industrial complex to produce ferronickel.
The complex's launch is part of the reconstruction of the plant's smelting facilities, aimed at increasing production efficiency, lowering production costs and dramatically reducing the volume of waste released into the atmosphere. The new technology will also allow the plant to significantly decrease operating costs by excluding several expensive components from the technological cycle.
The 12 MW complex's annual production capacity is some 4,500 mt of ferronickel, with an average 20 percent nickel content.
The 12 MW smelting complex was designed by Bateman Engineering B.V. of South Africa, based on state-of-the-art technical developments employed for the ferroalloy industry and environment protection. In developing this project, Bateman Engineering B.V. used an integrated approach, which made possible a combination of lower production costs with higher metal extraction levels and improved equipment endurance and reliability.
The total cost of the experimental 12 MW industrial complex amounted to Ruble 1.3 billion (around $41 million).