MMK's production process

MMK is a steelmaking complex encompassing the entire production chain, from mining and preparation of iron ore to downstream processing of rolled steel and manufacturing of high-tech finished products.

1.??Sinter production (first processing stage)

Historically, MMK used the iron ore reserves of Magnitnaya Mountain, but by the 1970s its resources had been exhausted. Today, Magnitogorsk steelmakers extract a small volume of ore from the Maly Kujbas mine to the north of Magnitogorsk, while the major bulk of ore is purchased from third-party mineral processing plants.

The ore is crushed, ground, enriched and given a uniform chemical composition at the ore dressing plant (ODP). The resulting iron ore concentrate is sintered in sintering machines at MMK’s three sintering plants.

Another key component for the blast-furnace process is coke, which is produced from hard coal at the plant’s nine coke batteries. The coal for them comes from MMK Group subsidiary MMK-COAL and from third parties. Pig iron is produced in eight blast furnaces with useable volumes ranging from 1370 m3 to 2014 m3.

2.??Crude steel production (second processing stage)

Liquid pig iron is transported in mobile mixers (special containers) to the oxygen converter shop. Three converters with a capacity of 370 tonnes process pig iron into steel, which is then cast at five continuous casting machines to produce slabs. The capacity of the oxygen converter shop for cast billets is 10.7 mln tonnes per year.

The other part of liquid iron is sent to the electric arc furnace shop, where, together with scrap metal, it is loaded into two 180-tonne arc furnaces and a double-hearth furnace. The resulting steel is cast at three continuous casting machines: two of them produce billets for long products, and one produces slabs. The capacity of the electric arc furnace shop for cast billets is 3.38 mln tonnes per year.

3.??Rolling production (downstream processing)

Long products.

MMK produces long products at its oldest shop, the long product rolling mill shop. Today, there are three mills manufactured by Italian company Danieli which were commissioned in 2005-2006. They produce a wide range of products, and the capacity of the shop is 1.7 mln tonnes of finished rolled products per year.

Hot-rolled products.

The heavy plate production is formed of reversing mills 4500, 2350 and 5000 (the numerical designation represents the barrel length in mm). The heavy plate mills can produce hot rolled plates with a thickness of 6-160 mm, width up to 4800 mm and length up to 12 m. The finished steel production capacity of this unit is 1.9 mln tonnes per year.

Sheet-rolling shops No.4 and No.10 produce hot-rolled coils with metal thickness from 1.2 to 25 mm. Mill 2500 operates at sheet-rolling shop No.4 and mill 2000 runs at sheet-rolling shop No.10. The current annual capacity of mill 2500 is 4.0 mln tonnes, and mill 2000 has a capacity of 5.8 mln tonnes.

Cold-rolled products.

At sheet-rolling shop No.5, hot-rolled strips in coils are processed into cold-rolled steel. Hot-rolled strips are first descaled in one of two continuous etching mills and then cold-rolled in continuous mill 2500 or in a reversing mill. The minimum thickness of the strips after rolling is 0.35 to 0.45 mm.

At sheet-rolling shop No.8, hot-rolled strips are processed in two independent technological streams. Firstly, they are used to produce bent sections (angles, channels, etc.) as well as pipes with a diameter of 10-140 mm. Secondly, in the cold-rolled strip stream, the strips are descaled, then rolled at cold-rolling mill 630 and annealed in bell-type furnaces, producing strips with cross-section of 0,5-4,5 x 250-495 mm.

At sheet-rolling shop No.11, hot-rolled strips are descaled in a continuous etching line and cold-rolled at mill 2000. In addition, shee-rolling shop No.11 has two continuous hot-dip galvanising units and a combined unit that can produce both galvanised strips and uncoated annealed strips.

Coated products.

The coated metal production includes an electrolytic tinning unit for the production of tinplate (0.16-0.38 mm thick low-carbon tin coated strips) for tin containers, three continuous hot-dip galvanising units and two polymer coating units. In addition, production includes continuous cold-rolling mill 1200, which produces strips for subsequent tinning (black tin) and heat-treatment equipment – a continuous annealing unit and bell furnaces.

Coated steel is also produced by MMK's subsidiary, Lysvensky Metallurgical Plant, Russia's only producer of electrolytically galvanised and polymer-coated rolled products. The plant's polymer coating unit with Print technology makes it possible to produce a full range of pre-painted rolled products on all types of steel substrates: hot-dip galvanised, electrolytically galvanised or cold-rolled steel.

4.??Metalware

Another subsidiary of the MMK Group, OJSC MMK-METIZ, manufactures using modern equipment a wide range of metalware products for various sectors of the economy. Its wide product range includes fasteners (including bolts, screws, nuts, nails, rivets, screws); machine engineering, railway and high-strength fasteners; general purpose, welding and flux-cored wire; wire nails; calibrated steel; ropes; metal mesh, packaging products, etc.