NLMK to build recycling facility

Iron-containing briquettes are a raw material for the smelting of hot metal. The briquettes will be manufactured using a hard extrusion method from a mix of iron ore concentrate and blast furnace sludge, i.e. iron-containing waste formed in the process of wet blast furnace gas cleaning. The production of briquettes is an environmentally friendly technology that does not generate any dust or gas emissions.

The launch of the plant will enable more than 350,000 tonnes of blast furnace waste to be recycled each year. NLMK will cease to accumulate sludge and will begin to process existing iron containing waste stocks.

Konstantin Lagutin, Vice President for Investment Projects, said:‘Construction of a facility to manufacture metallurgical briquettes is a Strategy 2017 project aimed at boosting the efficiency of production processes through recycling and utilizing production waste as a proper raw material. The new facility will not only increase the efficiency of iron extraction, but will significantly reduce the plant’s environmental footprint. We also plan to fully liquidate existing blast furnace sludge piles, which total approximately 3.5 million tonnes of waste accumulated since Soviet times, by 2030.’

Detailed engineering has begun as part of the briquetting plant construction project and is due for completion by the end of the year. Facility launch is scheduled for 2017.

Investment in the project will total approximately 2.3 billion rubles. The economic effect of EBITDA is 25 million dollars per year; the pay-back period is approximately 2.5 years.