OREANDA-NEWS. June 15, 2010. Management of the ArcelorMittal, ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih and Siemens VAI companies jointly announced launch of the construction of the first Continuous Casting Machine (CCM) at the ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih. Jean Jouet, CEO, ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih, and Werner Auer, CEO, Siemens VAI Metals Technologies GmbH & Co, exchanged the copies of the signed contract and jointly with the ArcelorMittal top managers cut the ribbon and made the first symbolic dig on the construction site.

Jean Jouet, CEO, ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih: “By signing this contract and taking this decision to start building our first CCM we are not only sticking to our investment obligations according to SPA, but we also demonstrate our strong will to modernize this plant and turn it into a modern technologically advanced facility. CCM is needed to meet the best international practice and the customer requirements. For this project we’ve selected a supplier with a proven

global reputation and strong presence in Ukraine. It is also important that 80% of works on this project will be sourced locally, from companies in Kryviy Rih and Dnepropetrovsk region. This is a positive thing for local economy since we invest in the future: our investment will generate activity on the local level. This gives me the opportunity to remind yet again that the quicker the Government resolves the VAT issue and gives us back our cash, the quicker we will be able to renew investment and maintenance

programs which in turn will revive the local economy”.

Construction of the CCM is a key part of the company’s modernization program as well as one of its investment obligations according to the sale and purchase agreement. This project will include construction of all related infrastructure and facilities - electrical substation, water treatment plant, de-dusting unit etc. The project capacity of the new CCM will be over 1.2 million ton of steel per year.

Target date of start-up of CCM is September 2011.

Launch of the CCM will mark transfer of the enterprise to more efficient and more sustainable production with numerous technical advantages:

• Energy saving i.e. gas, water and electrical energy: 10% energy saving in steel production per ton of steel.

• Increased product quality: the ladle furnace gives

the possibility to clean and alloy the liquid steel and to produce a bigger range of product qualities.

• Increasing the labor safety: less manual work and higher degree of automation ensure safer working conditions.

• Environmental friendly: 10% reduction of emission per ton of billet in steel making.

• Better yield, higher availability, higher degree of automation and maintenance friendly: 10% better yield, 90% availability.

Volodymyr Makarenko, Project leader and a company veteran with 39 years of experience: “Introducing this new technology has numerous advantages comparing to the one we are currently using: better steel quality, better yield, modern automated production that eliminates the share of manual labour. We’ve been dreaming about this technology as early as in the 70th of the 20th century. First feasibility study was done in 1985. For

different reasons this technology was not implemented back then and I am happy to witness this dream come true today.”

Arnaud Poupart-Lafarge, Executive Vice President, ArcelorMittal (CIS and Africa countries): “We are bringing today to ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih not only the engineering knowledge of such reputable company as Siemens VAI, but also the experience of ArcelorMittal, which is operating CCMs in all of its plants in the world. ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih will continue in the future to benefit from the transfer of unmatched steelmaking knowledge and experience of ArcelorMittal Group”.