OREANDA-NEWS. June 10, 2009. Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces that the official ceremony was held today which was dedicated to the restart of coke oven battery No. 4 at its Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant’s Mechel-Coke OOO subsidiary. The ceremony took place on the eve of the state holiday – Russia Day. Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant (CMP) is a part of Mechel group of companies. Coke oven battery No. 4’s operations were suspended in January 2008 due to its capital repair.

The official commissioning of coke oven battery No. 4 was attended by the Chelyabinsk Region Governor Pyotr Sumin, Chelyabinsk Region Chief Federal Inspector Andrey Andrianov, Chelyabinsk Region Deputy Governor Yury Klepov, Chelyabinsk Region Minister of Industry and Natural Resources Evgeny Teftelev, Chelyabinsk City Duma Chairman Boris Vidgof, Deputy Chelyabinsk City Mayor Sergey Komyakov, and other honorable guests. Mechel OAO was represented at the meeting by its Chief Executive Officer Igor Zyuzin, Mechel Management OOO Chief Executive Officer Andrey Deineko, Mechel OAO Senior Vice President Victor Trigubko. Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant OAO Managing Director Sergey Malyshev and Mechel-Coke OOO General Director Pavel Shtark also attended the ceremony.

Following the commissioning of the blast furnace No. 4 at Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant in April 2009 with a view to fulfill its production plans, the plant’s needs in coke have grown significantly. Today, the plant operates more than 100% average monthly capacity as compared to the pre-crisis production levels. Coke oven battery No. 4 will supply additional coke to CMP’s blast furnace workshop and produce 200 million cubic meters of gas for operation of the plant’s power facilities.

The accomplished reconstruction of coke oven battery No. 4 enabled enhancing its production and quality performance. The renovated unit comprising 61 oven chambers with 20.0 cubic meter capacity each will produce approximately 440,000 tonnes of coke annually, i.e. 90,000 tonnes more than prior to accomplishment of the repair measures. In the course of the capital repair, the oven walls have been partially re-laid, battery reinforcement has been replaced, and gas exhaust and intake equipment has been repaired and partially replaced. Capital repair of coking machines has been accomplished and a new power supply circuit and instrumentation and automated control systems with modern hardware components have been installed.

Also the following technical innovations have been implemented during reconstruction: construction of the endmost vertical refractory laying has been changed, which will enable eliminating risk of coke falls during coke release. In addition, the project provides for arrangements to improve the environmental situation. Thus, gas exhaust columns have been installed with the use of a cap pneumatic compression system to reduce gas emission.

The capital repair of the coke oven battery was carried out from January to October 2008 in line with Mechel-Coke OOO’s long-term development plan and with a view to maintain utilization of the coke production facilities and to satisfy the needs of CMP’s blast furnace production. Later it was put to hot standby mode due to the change in the plant’s production programs.

“The commissioning of coke oven battery No. 4 has strategic importance for implementation of the planned production programs of Mechel-Coke OOO and CMP OAO. It is also a clear evidence of existence and results of synergies between Mechel’s subsidiaries. At present, the market needs and growing demand for Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant’s metal products and, correspondingly, increase of its pig iron production have brought about resumption of the plant’s needs in coke and resumption of coke oven No. 4 operations. That will have a positive impact on our subsidiaries’ economic performance and staff load,” Mechel OAO Senior Vice President Vladimir Polin commented.