Evraz's KGOK completes project to improve iron ore quality
YEKATERINBURG. May 15 (Interfax) - Evraz Kachkanarsky GOK (Evraz KGOK), an iron ore mining division of the Evraz steel group, has completed a 30 million ruble project to improve the quality of its iron ore products, Evraz's Ural regional corporate relations center reported.
The project, which took one year to complete, included the launch of new units, modernization of equipment, and expansion of the list of monitored production process parameters. The miner installed new bentonite feeders from Germany's Schenk, conveyor scales, and a moisture meter to control the moisture levels of concentrate, and modernized pelletizers and the automated system for controlling charge moisture and feeding.
As a result, Evraz KGOK has completely moved to production of high quality iron ore products that meets the requirements of steelmakers. The physical and mechanical properties of products have improved, the amount of fines in agglomerate and pellets has dropped by 15% to 5% respectively, the amount of agglomerate breeze has decreased by 11.5%, and agglomerate abrasion has been reduced, which is important in blast furnace technology.
The company said KGOK produced more than 6 million tonnes of pellets with iron content of 61%, and about 3.5 million tonnes agglomerate with iron content of 54% in 2011. The main customer for KGOK's iron ore products is Evraz Nizhny Tagil Iron & Steel Plant (NTMK).
Evraz KGOK is one of the five largest mining operations in Russia. It is currently mining vanadium ore at the Gusevogorskoye deposit.
