OREANDA-NEWS. July 19, 2011. Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) launched its Mill 2000 – the first stage of a new cold rolling complex - during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to MMK today. Mill 2000, with 2 mtpa capacity of finished products, will primarily produce high-quality cold-rolled and galvanized steel to be used in the production of exterior and interior car parts, as well as for use by home appliance manufacturers and the construction industry.

MMK’s total investments in the Mill 2000 project will reach approximately USD 1.5 bln. The company undertook the project in order to meet growing demand for high-quality cold-rolled steel, primarily from car makers. Mill 2000 utilizes the most advanced technologies being available in the industry today.

The first stage of Mill 2000, commissioned today, includes a continuous pickling line coupled with a tandem mill. The second stage of the complex, which will include a continuous hot-dip galvanizing unit, a continuous annealing unit and a coil inspection unit, is planned to be commissioned in July 2012. The Mill 2000 complex was shipped by the German machine building company SMS-DEMAG under the contract between MMK and SMS-DEMAG signed in July 2007.

The new cold-rolling facility (Rolling Workshop No. 11) is also equipped with a continuous turbulent pickling line linked to a five-stand cold-rolling mill with a capacity of 2.1 mtpa, a continuous hot galvanizing unit (450 ktpa), a combined annealing/hot-galvanizing unit (650 ktpa), a working roll grinding and texturing unit, a coil inspection and slitting line, as well as cold-worked and galvanized coil packaging lines. The gauge of finished products can range from 0.28-3.0 mm-thick and 850-1,880 mm-wide cold-rolled sheets in coils weighing up to 43.5 metric tons.

MMK Board of Directors Chairman Victor Rashnikov said: “The launch of Mill 2000 will enable MMK to increase the share of cold-rolled and hot galvanized products in the company’s product lineup. This will expand the range of products and provide MMK customers with high-quality rolled products, including high-resistance steel."