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Mechel Begins Test Melting of Uvatsk Quartzites

03/10/2011 - Mechel OAO’s Bratsk Ferroalloy Plant began test melting of an industrial probe of quartzites from the plant’s own resource base, the Uvatsk deposit.

Mechel OAO reports that its Bratsk Ferroalloy Plant began test melting of an industrial probe of quartzites from the plant’s own resource base, the Uvatsk deposit. Quartzites are the main raw material used in ferrosilicon production.
 
Intermediate results of melting of the industrial probe of quartzites showed that the Uvatsk deposit’s reserves are suitable for production of ferrosilicon with 65% silicon content, which is most in demand.
 
Test melting, which is conducted in one of the plant’s furnaces, will continue until May 2011. By that time, Bratsk Ferroalloy Plant will use some 10,000 tonnes of quartzites in its furnaces. The results, received after the entire test lot is used, will enable the company to determine the material’s final industrial and technological characteristics, thus making further usage of the Uvatsk quartzites as efficient as possible.
 
“Transferring production to use of quartzites from our own deposit will not only allow the plant to be independent of external sources, but also get new qualitative measures of the final product, which will have a positive impact on the economic and industrial results of Mechel Group’s ferroalloy segment,” said Gennady Ovchinnikov, CEO of Mechel Ferroalloys Management Company OOO.
 
Bratsk Ferroalloy Plant won the tender for the rights to utilize the subsoil plot on the Uvatsk deposit of quartzite and quartz sandstones in May 2008. Industrial exploitation of the Uvatsk quartzite deposit, which is located in the Irkutsk Region, is due to be launched in the second half of 2011, once the reserves receive state registration.
 
Mechel, one of Russia’s leading companies, conducts business in four segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy and power. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, ferrochrome, ferrosilicon, rolled products, hardware, heat and electric power, and its products are marketed domestically and internationally.