Russian steelmaker Metalloinvest is constructing a ball rolling facility at its OEMK steekworks in Stary Oskol, Russia.
The new facility, which is slated to be built with an investment of $13mn, will produce about 43,000mt of grinding balls, to be used in the company’s steelmaking process, with the potential of selling the semi-finished product in the market.
However, Andrey Ugarov, Metalloinvest’s deputy chief executive and financial officer said that the main goal of developing this plant is to reduce the company’s reliance on external suppliers.
Metalloinvest plans to produce 100-120mm diameter grinding balls, weighing about eight kilograms each. These products will be used to crush ore in ball mills at the firm’s mining and processing enterprises. The facility will add 85 new jobs according to the company’s release on Oct 9.