Mittal Steel Ostrava to launch projects worth $184.2m

Mittal Steel Ostrava, the Czech Republic-based subsidiary of Mittal Steel, has announced plans to invest CZK 2.5 billion ($115 million) in the modernization of the plant's equipment and in environment-related projects. The total value of the projects the company intends to launch amounts to CZK 4 billion ($184.2 million). The most important of the projects in question include the modernization of coke oven battery No:1 (worth CZK450 million and expected to be completed by the end of the year), the construction of a new block of large capacity coke oven No:11, the modernization of a blast furnace (to take place at the end of the year), the modernization of the company's medium and fine section mill and of the stiefel 4-10 mill, and, finally, the replacement of the current tandem furnaces at the company's steel plant with new oxygen furnaces. The latter project will allow Mittal Steel Ostrava to lower consumption of refractory and ferroalloys during crude steel production and also to increase the quality of its crude steel. The projects also include the construction of a new galvanizing line for the production of crash barriers and a new cross cutting line for the production of sheets.