OREANDA-NEWS. On April 10, 2008 Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announced that the walking-beam heating furnace of the medium-section mill at its Mechel Targoviste Romanian subsidiary has been commissioned following its reconstruction at the facility. The furnace reconstruction was performed in line with Mechel Targoviste’s production capacities modernization program planned for 2007-2011, reported the press-centre of Mechel.

The walking-beam furnace is designed to heat billets before feeding them to the rolling mill, which manufactures finished products. The subsidiary manufactures carbon and low alloy steel rolled products as well as forged and calibrated products for machine building, automotive, hardware, bearing, and pipe producing industries.

Investments in the new project totaled about US\\$5,8 million. The equipment was supplied by Techint (Tenova) of Italy, one of the world’s premier manufacturers of such equipment. Most of the construction and installation work was performed by Mechel Targoviste’s specialists.

The furnace modernization will significantly increase the billets’ range. Continuously cast billets have been expanded to a maximum sector of 150 х 180 mm section, compared with the previous maximum of 140 х 140 mm. The new equipment will reduce utilization of the obsolete blooming technology, and the subsidiary will start using, to the maximum extent possible, the billets manufactured at the continuous casting machine commissioned in March 2007 after its reconstruction. The modernized furnace will heat billets more evenly, thus improving the quality of the manufactured products.

The new equipment will lead to more efficient consumption of natural gas and electric power as well as refractories. Raw material consumption per tonne of the finished products will also reduce significantly as well as volume of human labor will decrease due to the full automation of the furnace. Installation of the new equipment will reduce production repair and maintenance costs.

All recent equipment that was installed and reconstructed, complies with the highest European standards in terms of quality and operation reliability. Mechel Targoviste plant is gradually turning into one of the leading steel manufacturing enterprises in Eastern Europe.