NLMK Group, an international steel company, has embarked on a large-scale reconstruction of Blast Furnace No. 6 (BF-6) at its Lipetsk site. The project will enable an 8% increase in BF capacity to 3.4 million tonnes of pig iron per year, significantly improve its environmental performance, and extend its interrepair cycle by 50% to 25 years.

Investment in the upgrade will exceed RUB 34 billion.

Currently, work is underway to install new blast air heaters and dedusting systems, assemble main units and steel structures. These works will be completed before the shutdown of the blast furnace, scheduled for May 2019. During the 130-day stoppage, the furnace will be dismantled and rebuilt from prefabricated modules.

Konstantin Lagutin, NLMK Group Vice President, Investment Projects, said:

   “Leading Russian and international engineering companies, MPE and technology suppliers have been brought on board to work on this largest investment project to be executed at the Lipetsk site over the past two years. We will end up with a more productive and efficient blast furnace with improved environmental performance. The upgrade of the dedusting system, for instance, will reduce the dust content in the air almost 10-fold. We are not just replacing an obsolete furnace with a new one: the project will make a significant contribution to the overall increase in steel output as part of the new strategic cycle.”

3D model created with BIM software.

About NLMK Group

NLMK Group is the largest steelmaker in Russia and one of the most efficient in the world.

NLMK Group’s steel products are used in various industries, from construction and machine building to the manufacturing of power-generation equipment and offshore windmills

NLMK operates production facilities in Russia, Europe and the United States. The Company’s steel production capacity exceeds 17 million tonnes per year.

NLMK has the most competitive cash cost among global manufacturers and one of the highest profitability levels in the industry. In 9M 2018, the Company generated $9 billion in revenue and $2.7 billion in EBITDA. Net debt/EBITDA stood at 0.25х. The Company has investment grade credit ratings from S&P, Moody’s, Fitch and RAEX (Expert RA).

NLMK’s ordinary shares with a 16% free-float are traded on the Moscow Stock Exchange (ticker "NLMK") and its global depositary shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (ticker "NLMK:LI"). The share capital of the Company is divided into 5,993,227,240 shares with a par value of RUB1. For more details on NLMK shareholder capital please follow the link.

The jury of the prestigious S&P Platts Global Metals Awards held by S&P Global Platts, a leading international industry analytical periodical, announced NLMK Group as winner of the Industry Leadership Awards – Steel in 2016, and awarded it the CEO of the Year in 2018.

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