With each day of the Russian occupation of Lugansk region the opportunities to revive the industry of the region dwindle down. Following the shut down of mines, all the iron and steel works will be closed as well.

Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works could become the first of such companies, as it half-operates only one of its blast furnaces.

Last week, the company employees announced an indefinite strike demanding clearing the multi-million salary debts.

To suppress the strike, the Russian management has sent several brigades of strikebreakers from Makeyevka, but even they might be unable to restore manufacture in the short-term. The last batch of coal, received not long before the strike, proved to be of bad quality. Because of the high moisture content in coal used to heat the blast furnace No. 1, some metal solidified in there, and now it can’t be used.

AMK is using only the blast furnace No. 5 now, which has cracks. If it is heated, molted metal would pour over at least 20% of the foundry shop and result in a fire.

AMK also has the blast furnace No. 8, but it has been shut down due to a technical malfunction.

Thus, Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works is on the brink of being shut down, as the current management of the occupants is clearly not interested in buying new equipment and modernizing the available capacities. (Ukrainian metal)

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