Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) startsed to lay the furnace foundation in one of its shops. ‘At the moment, the work is in the excavation state; the furnace foundation is also being laid. This new apparatus for wheel billet heating will be used as part of the press-rolling line built at the Complex in December 2004. The new heating system will be fully automated, quick and less energy-consuming, which will surely enhance the quality of the billets,’ the company’s spokesperson reports. The construction of the furnace is part of the general wagon wheel

The main open-cast mine of Vanadium JSC, ore mining and processing enterprise of Kachkanar, put into operation the new ten-cube-capable ECG № 10 excavator produced by United Machine Building Works and electric machine works of Karpinsk. According to the company’s spokesperson, this is the first apparatus received since the beginning of the year. It is going to take about three months to assemble. ‘The company’s management is thinking of gradual replacement of the mining equipment with the more updated versions, like this replacement of 8-cube excavators with the more powerful ones,’ the

The Board of Directors of Rossi CJSC decided on April 21, 2006 as the date of the annual shareholder meeting. The shareholders will have to do the following: • go over the company’s financial achievements in 2005 and P&L distribution • elect the Board of Directors and the members of the inspection committee as well as the returning board • agree on the amendments to the company’s Charter.

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil has been experimenting with replacing the blast furnace feedstock. ‘The furnace charge used to contain the produce of 3 ore mining and processing enterprises, namely, those of Mikhailovsk, Kachkanar, and Vysokogorskiy – the last two members of Evraz Group like ourselves. We decided in November 2005 that we would stop buying from external sources and fully switch to Evraz suppliers, which would allow to reduce delivery costs and raise the number of orders we receive,’ the company’s spokesperson said. The produce of Kachkanar is rich in vanadium

Ufaleynickel JSC has given preventive overhaul to its № 4 shaft furnace by fixing Petrov forge fettling, the downtakes, the dirty gas reservoir, and replacing the spout slag granulation cutting-ditches. All repairs had been performed by the company’s specialists and completed well before the deadline.

Ural Smithy JSC of Chelyabinsk Region (part of Mechel JSC) announced the increase in net profits by 144.125m RUR (91.67 %). The company’s release states that this is due to the greater output of goods. Thus, the company’s net profit came to 301.342m in 2005.

Chelyabinsk Region Ministry of Agriculture does not decline its responsibility for the state of events at Uvelsky Veterinary and Sanitary Utilization Plant State Unitary Enterprise. In settling the money issues, the Ministry acts according to the earlier negotiated contracts between the plant, the profile ministry subcorporation and the Regional Government. The ministry worked out a new regime of financial interaction with the plant. These claims were made by PR-department of Chelyabinsk Region Ministry of Agriculture. The plant also entered Chelyabinsk Regional Privatization Plan for 2006

Chelyabinsky Metallurgichesky Kombinat JSC (Metallurgical Integrated Complex of Chelyabinsk/ChMK, member of Mechel JSC) starts reconstruction of hot rolling mill 300-2, PR-department of ChMK reported to UrBC representative. It is a medium-section mill whose rated annual capacity is 300,000 tons. The reconstruction is carried out in accordance with Mechel investments program. It is expected to raise ChMK rolling capacities for producing plain rebar and ribbed bar and to extend the range of the products manufactured in compliance with international standards DIN-EN, ASTM, BS. ChMK intends to

Power generating companies of Chelyabinsk and Tyumen (members of TGK-10) produced 3 277.6m kilowatt-hours in January and February 2006, which is 243.5m kilowatt-hours (8%) more than had been planned. The release of electricity came to 2.944m kilowatt-hours (2 154.4m greater than usual), the General Director of TGK-10 Andrey Shishkin announced at today’s press conference. Mr Shishkin said that the company had produced 6,582,100 gigacalories of heat enerrgy, which exceeds the Russian Federal Tariff Service plan by 892,600 gigacalories, or 15.7%, in the first two months of 2006. The release of

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) has been developing a project for reclaiming soil affected by refractory production dumps. The production has been maintained in the city since March 1934 when the first block of furnaces for scorching refractory goods was set up. Since then, the plant has grown to become a large enterprise with the annual output of over 200,000 tons of refractory, fire clay, and magnesia goods as well as unmolded mixtures. The refractory production dump had been located and used in the vicinity of the plant for a long time, which

Ural Turbine Works Ltd. (part of Renova Group) received a long-term loan from TransCreditBank to finance their contract with Muller Machines SA of Switzerland. The loan comes to 2,125m Swiss francs given for a timespan of 5.5 years. The Works is going to buy some special equipment for production of steam and gas turbine blades. The contract has been signed within the framework of Financing Program for export of Swiss goods and services. The guarantors of the contract are Swiss Risk Export Guarantee (ERG) and Credit Suisse of Zurich

Metallurgical Works of Chelyabinsk JSC is now renovating its 300-2 hot-rolling mill with the capacity of 300,000 tons a year and meant for medium section production, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The project is part of Mechel JSC (the works owner) strategic investment program, aimed at increasing the works’ production capacity for plain rebar and die-rolled section and widen the assortment of goods produced in compliance with the international standards such as DIN-EN, ASTM, BS. After the reconstruction, the output is predicted to rise to 400,000 tons annually. At

Dengi magazine has recently published the Russian top 100 (in terms of job prospects) colleges. Four Yekaterinburg colleges were on this list, with Ural State Technical University getting the 5th place, Ural State Academy of Mines getting the 25th place, Ural State University getting the 49th place, and Ural State University of Economics being on the 60th place. The rating was based on the survey carried out among 300 Russia’s largest companies, of whom 120 responded. The survey summed up the data available on 6,732 college graduates employed by these companies last year.

Starting mid-March, VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation has been reporting to Moscow tax inspectorate for largest metallurgical companies, said their PR and Legal Issues Director Artem Kislichenko. Mr Kislichenko says this change is not going to affect the tax-paying routine; it’s just that the payments will now go directly to the federal budget and then be distributed among regional and local budgets.

Federal Antimonopoly Service in Chelyabinsk Region rejected the application of Astra-Metal of Magnitogorsk to buy 98.45% of Yuzhniy Ural Medical Insurance Company today. The Service had conducted research on the state of competition in the field of obligatory medical insurance in Chelyabinsk Region and found out that Astra-Metal already possessed the 76.9% share of the regional market. The transaction would result in the merger of the two companies and together, they would have 81.8% percent of the market, which would highly concentrate it, made the two companies dominant and eliminate any

Agropromcredit Ltd. will set up a subsidiary in Yekaterinburg in April 2006. This subsidiary will provide the full range of banking services such as opening accounts, cash and credit cards, consumer lending, including express-lending and overdraft, and billing. Emphasis will be laid on automobile loans and express lending, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. Agropromcredit Ltd. takes part in the Federal Housing Program and is one of the five Russian banks that accepts housing certificates. The opening of Yekaterinburg subsidiary is performed within the regional expansion

Vanadium ore mining and processing enterprise of Kachkanar (part of Evraz Group) started assembling the new electrostatic cleaner as part of gas cleaning of agglomeration shop in March 2006. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, the gas cleaning facilities have been being replaced since 2004. All six electrostatic cleaners will have been replaced by 2007, which will reduce dust exhaust by 930 tons a year. At the moment, three of the new cleaners have already been assembled, two more will have been installed by the end of 2006.

Metallurgical Works of Zlatoust JSC transferred 606,179,000 RUR to various budgets and off-budget funds in 2005, of which retirement payments comprised 104 million, with social welfare tax payments coming to 195 million (220 million if including the payments in January 2006). 35,518,000 RUR were transferred in the first two months of 2006, with the average of 16 million a month. The total of all tax payments came to 606,179,000 RUR in 2005.

‘Sverdlovsk Electricity Networks are thinking of ceasing hot water supplies to 114 blocks of flats on March 28, 2006,’ says the company’s spokesperson. The reason for this is debts of the managing companies whose total debt to the networks came to 240 million RUR. The warnings have already been sent to all the non-payers, including Verkh-Isetskiy, SUERZH, Leninskiy, Radomir and Ural-ST – managing companies from various areas of the city.

Troitsk State District Power Plant is still working on technical reequipment; thus, PROTAR microprocessor sliders are now being reinstalled to provide for the use of САР - АRCON software aimed at improving the quality of dynamic reloczation. The program allows to more precisely determine the tooling coefficients of four PROTAR-111 units assembled at the steam bypass regulator of block № 7. The new tooling is going to more efficiently and automatically keep the temperature coming out of the pot stable and provide for a quicker system response in different settings.