Siemens steels itself in the Urals

(NTMK) has awarded

(I&S) group an order totalling €130m for the renovation of the core equipment at NTMK’s steel melt shop. The aim of the project is to increase the production from 3.5m to 4.2m tonnes per year while improving the steel quality and reducing pollution.

NTMK, part of Evrazholding Group, based in the city of Nizhniy Tagil in the Ural Mountains, is one of Russia’s biggest metallurgy enterprises. Its main business is processing vanadium-bearing iron ore from its own ore source into slabs of steel, mainly for use in railway products.

The renovated system will introduce a new material feeding line and deliver four new converters. The electrical, control and power systems will also be integrated.

The project will be implemented during normal operation. The start-up of the first converter is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2007. Two more converters will be started up in 2008 and the fourth converter in the second quarter of 2009.