Lisin's NLMK building new mini-mill, $1.5-bln blast furnace
MOSCOW. Sept 3 (Interfax) - Vladimir Lisin's Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) is building a steel mini-mill in the Kaluga region that will be capable of processing all scrap metal generated in the Moscow region, Lisin said at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"We're building a plant in the Kaluga region, planned [capacity] 1.5 million tpa. We commissioned a new rolling mill in the Sverdlovsk region this year, Lisin said.
NLMK's other priorities include developing production of automobile sheet and grain-oriented steel.
A new blast furnace under construction at NLMK's main production site in Lipetsk will be capable of boosting crude steel output 40%. The project, the first of its kind in the post-Soviet period, will cost more than $1.5 billion, Lisin said.
The NLMK Group includes the Russia-based Novolipetsk Steel Plant, iron ore miner Stoilensky GOK , coke producer Altai Koks, VIZ-Stal and Maxi Group, as well as DanSteel A/S in Denmark. NLMK acquired Beta Steel in the U.S. in October 2008.
Lisin controls 84.6% of NLMK's shares via Fletcher Group Holdings and LKB-Invest. Company management owns 2.5%. The free float is 11.3%.