OREANDA-NEWS. November 24, 2010. Evraz Group (LSE: EVR) (“Evraz” or the “Company”) announces the completion of the modernisation of its converter shop at NTMK, Evraz’s steel mill in the Urals, Russia. As a result, the converter shop’s annual capacity increased by 0.7 million tonnes to 4.5 million tonnes of steel.

Reconstruction of converter No 4 and caster No 3 was the last stage of a large-scale modernisation project. The total cost of the modernisation of the No 4 converter amounted to 1.6 billion roubles (approx. USD 50 million). Investment into the modernisation of caster No 3 totalled 1.7 billion roubles (approx. USD55 million).

The NTMK steelmaking facilities now consist of four upgraded converters and four continuous casting machines. Implementation of gas cleaning and extraction equipment significantly decreased emissions at the converter shop. The total investment in the converter shop modernisation was 9.7 billion roubles (approx. USD 310 million).

Alexander Frolov, Evraz’s CEO, said, “Following its modernisation, NTMK now has advanced converter production facilities which meet current standards. This investment in the steelmaking facilities will reduce cash costs of steel production at NTMK and provides a cleaner and safer environment for the workforce.”