Severstal Cherepovets, the main steel producing facility of Severstal Russian Steel, has announced that at the end of the first quarter of 2010 it is to recommission its blast furnace (BF) No. 2, following the completion of capital repairs.
Accordingly, the capital repairs of the 1,033 cubic meter BF No. 2, which was stopped in December 2008 due to under use in the crisis period and due to its physical condition, are being carried out in line with Severstal Cherepovets's anti-crisis program. The company is investing about Ruble 850 million (about $29.2 million) in the repairs of the BF, enabling it to return to operation with its existing design capacity of 1.1 million mt of pig iron per year.
In June 2009, following capital repairs, Severstal Cherepovets recommissioned its 1,007 cubic meter BF No. 1 with 1.1 million mt annual capacity, which, together with the restart of BF No. 2, will allow the plant to create the necessary balance of pig iron for the implementation of its production plans, and will also allow it to provide an opportunity to select the optimum ratio of pig iron and scrap, thereby enabling it to reduce the costs of converter steel.
Following the restart of BF No. 2, Severstal Cherepovets will operate four BFs, with a combined capacity of 8.943 million mt of pig iron per year. The plant's BF No. 3 is currently out of operation due to reconstruction.