The Russian steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) has announced today that it has commissioned a high-capacity ladle furnace, with an annual capacity of four million metric tons, which will enable the company to produce new steel grades for automotive, white goods and electrical engineering applications.
The project is being implemented in cooperation with Austria-based plantmaker Siemens VAI as part of the second stage of NLMK's technical upgrade program. Fully automated process control and the up-to-date fume extraction and gas cleaning system will ensure excellent environmental performance of the facility. The new ladle furnace will reduce steel treatment costs and maximise quality improvements.
This year NLMK plans to commission an additional four million-mt ladle furnace at its main production site in Lipetsk. The total capacity of the two facilities will amount to eight million metric tons. About 60 jobs will be created covering operation and maintenance. The company plans to allocate over Ruble 3 billion ($101.7 million) for the construction of these two facilities.
In addition, in 2010-2011 NLMK intends to commission two more ladle furnaces with an overall annual capacity of four million metric tons. Therefore, when complete, these facilities will process a total of about 12 million metric tons of steel per year.