OREANDA-NEWS. Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, reports successful tests of the new coal export terminal at Primorye Region's Port Posiet. Modernization of the port's facilities will enable the company to significantly increase export to the Asia-Pacific countries. The project's cost is estimated to total some 4.5 billion rubles.

The first stage of Port Posiet's technical revamping provisions for a cargo turnover growth to up to 7 million tonnes a year. With the new coal export terminal, the port will be able to unload some 400 wagons a day (28,000 tonnes of coal) and load about 30,000 tonnes of coal daily onto cargo vessels.

The coal export terminal's equipment was produced by the German-based ThyssenKrupp concern, whose experts are currently overseeing start-up and commissioning works. The complex's chief characteristic is its use of car tipping machines, which technology makes unloading more intensive while minimizing damage to the wagons. The terminal also comprises storage equipment. The terminal's production line is equipped with magnet collectors that can eliminate foreign impurities that could contaminate the coal during transport. To unload coal in wintertime, the terminal employs a defreezing facility with infrared electric heaters. The coal export terminal is operated remotely from a single monitoring center.

Port Posiet's modernization will have a positive impact on Posiet village's environment. The new complex is equipped with highly efficient aspiration and dust-control systems which create an atomized water veil, which provides additional protection for the environment.

The coal export terminal is due to be launched into testing and industrial operation in the second quarter of 2014, which will mean completion of the first stage of Port Posiet's technical revamping investment project. The second stage is planned to be implemented in the next few years. The second stage includes construction of a deep-water berth and bottom dredging of the approach channel for Panamax-type vessels of up to 60,000-tonne cargo capacity.

“We expect that Port Posiet's modernization will enable us to improve its attraction for cargo recipients in Asia Pacific and accordingly increase coal sales. Also, by improving the port's capacity up to 7 million tonnes a year, we are preparing to transship coal products from the Elga deposit. The port's technical revamping also tackles an important social issue in Primorye Region's Khasan area, where this will create over 175 new jobs,” Mechel OAO's Chief Executive Officer Oleg Korzhov noted.