The Russian steel producer ESTAR Holding (ESTAR) has announced the modernization program for its Volgograd region-based subsidiary Frolovsky Electrostalplavilny Zavod (Volga-Fest).
The modernization program, which aims to increase Volga-Fest's steel production capacity to 480,000 mt a year and reduce the plant's production costs, will be implemented in two phases.
The first phase of the mill's modernization, which is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2009, involves the reconstruction of its existing arc furnace so as to increase its capacity up to 390,000 metric tons a year. Approximate investment for the first phase of the Volga-Fest modernization is estimated at more than €25 million.
Meanwhile, during the second phase of Volga-Fest's modernization, which will take about one-and-a-half years to implement, a new continuous billet caster with a production capacity of 480,000 metric tons a year will be installed at the mill. The total investment required for the second phase of the modernization is estimated at about €11 million.
The implementation of the program is expected to be completed by 2011, while the new production line will commence operations as early as 2010.
In addition to the modernization of Volga-Fest's existing capacities, ESTAR has decided to construct a new electro-smelting workshop, with an annual crude steel production capacity of 500,000 metric tons, along with a new rebar rolling mill, at the Volga-Fest premises.