Russian steelmaker NLMK Group has announced that it has started production at the new pelletizing plant of its iron ore subsidiary Stoilensky. The launch of the new pelletizing plant will enable NLMK Group to reduce its costs of iron ore used in blast furnace operations at the company’s Novolipetsk steelmaking plant, which will result in lower cash cost of NLMK steel. The positive impact of the project on EBITDA exceeds $150 million at current prices. Total investment for the project is around $680 million.
The new pelletizing plant has a design capacity of 6 million mt of pellets per year. The equipment installed allows for a further 20 percent expansion of this capacity to reach 7.2 million mt of pellets per year. The plant is expected to achieve its design capacity in the first quarter of 2017.
According to NLMK Group, the concept behind the design of the pelletizing plant is that of an environmentally friendly, waste-free facility, in which waste charge material and captured dust are introduced back into production. The project has also created 270 new jobs.