Mechel Restarts All Blast Furnace Production at Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant

Mechel OAO reports that its subsidiary, Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, has restarted all three blast furnaces that were halted yesterday following the interruption of water supply to the plant by the local pumping station. All steel oxygen converters and electric furnaces are expected to resume operation before the end of the day, followed by the steel rolling facilities which will be restarted within the next day. This will complete resumption of steel production at Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant.

"We are thankful to all the personnel involved in the accident relief efforts for their professional and united actions. This allowed us to quickly take control over the situation and carry out measures that will enable the fastest possible full scale restart of the production cycle," said Mechel's CEO Vladimir Iorich.

Mechel is one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore, nickel, steel, rolled products, and hardware. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.

http://www.mechel.com/