Mechel, one of the leading Russian mining and steel groups, has announced the resumption of operations at the No. 2 block of coke oven batteries at its subsidiary Moscow Coke and Gas Plant (Moskoks).
Moskoks' No. 2 block consists of three coke oven batteries - No. 3, No. 4 and No. 4-bis, and it includes 89 oven chambers with 23.4 cubic meter capacity each. During the hot conservation period, maintenance and capital repair works were carried out at the block.
The recommissioning of the No. 2 block, which will produce 50,000 mt of coke per month, will allow Moskoks to reach 100 percent capacity utilization. The total annual production capacity of the plant is 1.3 million mt of coke of six percent humidity.
"Mechel is the only Russian company commissioning coke oven batteries after a period of suspension and production volume drop. The recovery of production volumes at Mechel Group's plants became possible mainly due to our sales units' successful performance. Their efficient work allows us to increase deliveries to third parties in the internal Russian market as well as export deliveries. For example, in June about 30 percent of Moskoks production will be shipped to foreign countries," Mechel's senior vice president Vladimir Polin stated. He went on to add, "The increase in coke production allows us to additionally utilize coking coal mining capacity providing us with a reliable consumption channel."
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, in March 2009 Mechel commissioned blast furnace No. 4 at its Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant after capital repairs, while on June 10 it restarted operations at the plant's coke oven No. 1 with a capacity of 440,000 mt per year. In addition, Mechel's Southern Urals Nickel Plant is now operating at full capacity, while at Tikhvin Smelting Plant another ore heat-treating electric furnace has been restarted.