Stoilensky, the second largest producer of iron ore concentrate in Russia, has signed a development contract with the Finnish company Outotec to increase the pelletizing plant’s installed capacity by a third – from 6 million tons to 8 million tons of pellets per year. Under the contract, Outotec experts will design, supply main equipment and automation systems, and provide consulting support during installation and commissioning of the equipment.
The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2020.
Konstantin Lagutin, NLMK Group Vice-President, Investment Projects, said: “The pelletizer’s capacity expansion is a priority project of Strategy 2022. It is aimed at ensuring 100% self-sufficiency in captive raw materials of NLMK’s additional steel output. In order to reach the output of 8 million tons of pellets per year, Stoilensky will need to upgrade several transformation stages of the current pelletizing plant. In particular, we plan to build an additional grinding facility, implement a new filtration technology, upgrade the gas flow pattern of the induration machine, and update the control systems suite with the use of digital technologies”.
Additionally, in 2019-2021 the company plans to boost ore production and beneficiation capacity by 14% via upgrades of Stoilensky’s other transformation stages with a view to ensure stable supply of raw materials to the pelletizer after it reaches the output of 8 million tons. This will enable the company to increase its ore processing capacity from 37 million tons to 42 million tons and to increase its concentrate output from 17.3 million tons to 20 million tons per year. (NLMK/Ukrainian metal)