OREANDA-NEWS. September 30, 2013. Mechel (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces completion of the construction project for a grinding-mixing complex to produce cement.

The grinding-mixing complex was built in Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant’s industrial zone. The complex is a modern production facility for cement and blast-furnace slag cement. Its annual capacity is 1.6 million tonnes. Investment in the project totaled 174.4 million US dollars.

The complex’s chief technological advantage is the use of vertical roller mills that enable it to attain a maximum level of disintegration — grinding down to 4500-6000 Blaine fineness, which ensures cement strength and hardening rate. This is the first such production facility in Russia, constructed up to modern European standard.

Startup and commissioning works at the complex’s site are currently completed, and guarantee tests of its equipment have begun, using waste from blast-furnace production.

“Constructing this complex on the basis of Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant enables us to process there blast-furnace slag, which is the chief raw material for producing high-quality cement. This way Mechel managed to establish a highly profitable complete-cycle production, based on rational use of the plant’s by-product — waste from steelmaking. The new complex is equipped with modern, ecologically safe equipment, which ensures extremely low dust emissions — 30 milligrams per cubic meter,” Mechel Materials  Chief Executive Officer Nikolai Parkhomchuk noted.

The complex’s chief produce, high-quality blast-furnace slag cement, is used in constructing above and underground structures subject to aggressive environments, in building hydro power stations, ferrous metallurgy and heavy industry facilities. It is also used in making wall blocks, concrete mixes, construction mortars, dry mixes and etc.