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Construction of continuous casting machine for semi-finished products completed at Seversky Tube Works

The official ceremony of the commissioning of the continuous casting machine was attended by the Co-Chairman of the Supreme Council of the United Russia Party, the RF Ministry for Civil Defence, Emergency Situations and Liquidation of the Consequences of Natural Hazards Sergei Shoigu, Chairman of the Government of Sverdlovsk Oblast Alexei Vorobiev, the head of the Administration of the city of Polevskaya Viktor Reiter, TMK General Director Konstantin Semerikov, Managing Director of Serversky Tube Works Alexei Degai, delegates of the VII congress of the United Russia Party, representatives of the leadership of Sverdlovsk Oblast, partner companies of STW and TMK, and journalists.

In his opening speech, Sergei Shoigu remarked: “Russia is already not what it was 10 years ago. I am glad that the country’s industrial enterprises are presently going through a period of reconstruction. The launch of new equipment at Seversky Tube Works is the future of not just the enterprise, but of the city and the whole Sverdlovsk Oblast.

In the words of Alexei Vorobiev, the Urals are a golden land with huge technical potential. The commissioning of the continuous casting machine for semi-finished products, which produces around 1m tonnes of steel, affirms the distinctiveness and professionalism of Ural tradesmen. This is a large contribution in the development of the regional economy.

The production capacity of the continuous casting machine amounts to 950,000 tonnes of semi-finished products per year. Using modern continuous steel casting technology, Seversky Tube Works will produce high-quality round semi-finished products for manufacturing pipes, which will also be delivered for Sinarsky Pipe Works, affiliated to TMK. The new machine is unique and will enable the Company to raise the ecological safety level of production and lower the amount of metal, energy and labour expenditure, which will provide additional competitive advantages for TMK’s pipe production.

“Radical and extensive reconstruction of the production complexes for the purpose of creating an almost entirely new plant in 2009 for the production of seamless pipes, which is to be fitted with all the latest steelmaking, steel-rolling and pipe-finishing equipment, is being carried out at Seversky Tube Works. Construction of the continuous casting machine at the enterprise was executed in record time. The next step is already set to be the commissioning of a piercing mill, electric furnace and continuous rolling mill. This will raise Seversky Tube Works to an entirely new technological level,” Konstantin Semerikov underlined in his speech.

The commissioning of the continuous casting machine at STW is one of the key stages in the modernization of the enterprise’s steelmaking production. In 2002 STW modernized its system of scrap recycling and also commissioned the installation of a ladle furnace, built jointly with the company SMS Demag AG. In 2004 works were begun at the open-hearth plant on the construction of the continuous casting machine. The commissioning of an electric furnace at the enterprise is planned at the end of 2007.