Ukraine's largest vertically-integrated mining and steel group Metinvest has announced that its subsidiary Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol is about to complete construction and installation works to launch its new pulverized coal injection (PCI) facility.
The company plans to start the testing process at the facility in early May, with the technological trials with injection of the PCI fuel into the blast furnaces scheduled for July.
The implementation of this large scale project with an investment over $150 million will allow Metinvest to almost completely abandon the use of natural gas in the blast furnace shops of the company.