OREANDA-NEWS. In the first half of 2007 production output at the iron ore mining and dressing enterprises managed by Metalloinvest Management Company (Lebedinsky GOK and Mikhailovsky GOK) and at the steel enterprises of the Holding (Oskol Electric Steel Works and Ural Steel)  maintained flat year on year.

In the period, concentrate output was 19,05 million tones (in 2006 the enterprise produced 18,84 million tones of concentrate), pellets output amounted to 9,67 million tones (9,71 million tones in 2006), HBI production made up 490,540 tones (512,540 tones in 2006), sintering ore output was 1,119,300 tones while 1,018,800 tones of sintering ore was produced in the same period of 2006.

The minor HBI production drop down at LGOK in comparison with the previous year was due to a planned 20-day laying-off for repair. In the second half of the year the plant will increase its HBI output so that the production makes up a total of 1 million tones under the plant’s capacity. 

Rolled stock output was 2,38 million tones against 2,4 million in the first quarter of 2006. Steel output made up 3,08 million tones against 3,12 million in 2006), pig iron output was 1,328,400 tones while in the same period of 2006 the pig iron output stood at 1,280,600 tones.

In the first half of 2007 the 2800 mill at Ural Steel was under repair. After the reconstruction is completed the mill’s output capacity will increase up to 1200 thousand tones of hot-rolled plate per year from the current 850 thousand tones.