The unique assembly of steel structures with a total volume of 4290m3 has been performed at NLMK’s BF-7 construction site in Lipetsk.

During construction, five sections of the blast furnace shell were assembled to form one module weighing more than 210 tonnes, which was lifted and installed at a height of 33 meters.  This kind of operation has never been performed at similar industrial facilities, and was carried out with special hoisting machinery ensuring that NLMK reduced costs and complied with construction deadlines. 

Installation of the furnace shell using hoisting equipment, the BLT and gas cleaning system will be completed by the end of the year.

12,000 tonnes of steel structures, 1,400 tons of equipment, 50,000 m3 of concrete structures, 200,000 of refractories, 16km of pipelines and 4km of railway tracks have been installed at the industrial complex construction site.

This project is being implemented by NLMK in cooperation with Paul Wurth (Luxemburg) and UZTM (Yekaterinburg) as part of the second stage of the Technical Upgrading Program.  Total investment in construction is estimated to reach RUR 24.8 billion.  NLMK plans to commission the facility in mid-2012. 

Industrial complexes similar to BF-7 have not been constructed in Russia for over 20 years.  The facility, with capacity of 3.4 million tpy, incorporates technical solutions providing for high efficiency, resource saving and highly automated hot metal production. Economic and environmental performance will be achieved through state-of-the-art production and waste treatment techniques.