ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, the largest steel producer in Ukraine, has announced a temporary stoppage of some of its facilities, which is related to the consequences of the massive water spillage at Nova Kakhovka power plant dam. Following the explosions at the facility, which the Ukrainian authorities say was caused by Russian troops at night on June 6, a large region in the south of Ukraine has been affected by the massive floods, which endangered thousands of civilians and are causing a severe ecological damage.
The catastrophe has caused crticial water supply disruptions in related regions of Ukraine and the city of Kryvyi Rih, which has been primarily sourcing water from the Kakhovka reservoir. In such a circumstance and also while already facing the disruptions of water supply to its assets, AM Kryvyi Rih has decided to temporarily halt operations at some of its facilities. “The work of the equipment which requires water cooling is temporarily suspended. In such a way the mill will preserve the equipment and will reduce water consumption until the situation is normalized,” a company’s representative stated.
For now, AMKR has stopped crude steel production and rolling operations, while keeping the blast furnaces and coke batteries on. The mining complex is also reportedly operating in the regular mode. It is believed that the next 3-4 days will show how fast AMKR will be able to return to normal production since it is required to evaluate the rate of the water level decline in Kakhovka reservoir and other consequences of the blowing up of the hydo power plant and water dam.