Mechel, one of the leading Russian mining and steel groups, has announced that its subsidiary Tikhvin Ferroalloy Smelting Plant (TFZ) has recommissioned its electric arc furnace (EAF) No. 1 - the last of the four EAFs at the plant to be put into a continuous operating regime.
Currently, TFZ's three other EAFs are operating at 14 megavolt ampere capacity, while the capacity of EAF No. 1 will be gradually increased until it reaches its full load. Thus, Mechel will increase its output of high quality ferrochrome, used in the production of stainless and special steels.
TFZ is currently completely provided with high quality chrome ore supplied from Mechel's Kazakhstan-based subsidiary Voskhod Mining and Processing Plant, and has completely abandoned purchases of imported raw material of lower quality. TFZ's ferrochrome is consumed by Mechel's subsidiaries and is also supplied to the market. About 85 percent of TFZ's sales to the market consist of export sales to Japan, USA, Germany, India, China and others.
"The order volume we already have in summer 2009 practically matches the designed capacity of Tikhvin Ferroalloy Smelting Plant, and the commissioning of the fourth electric furnace at the plant would enable us to bring the ferroalloy segment's output volumes to the pre-crisis level," Oriel Resources CEO Alexey Ivanushkin commented.
Mechel's subsidiary Oriel Resources, Great Britain, acquired in April 2008 and representing Mechel's ferroalloy segment, unites all the ferroalloy assets of the group: Tikhvin Ferroalloy Smelting Plant (St. Petersburg region), Southern Urals Nickel Plant (Orenburg region), Bratsk Ferroalloy Plant (Irkutsk region), and Voskhod mining and processing plant (Kazakhstan) which is developing a chrome ore deposit. Oriel Resources also owns Shevchenko Nickel Deposit in Kazakhstan. Currently, Oriel Resources is implementing a modernization program and a program aimed at bringing output volume up to the pre-crisis level.