According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of investments drawn to accounts of non-commercial organizations and NGOs in UralfinpromBank JSC for a term of 181 days to 1 year has decreased by 57% (from 50 million RUR to 21.5 million RUR) throughout January to June.

Arrears of wages of Chelyabinsk Mechanical Plant reached the point of 12.4 million RUR on July 1, 2006. This has been the greatest figure among the enterprises of Chelyabinsk Region so far, and the debt recovery is supervised by the State Labour Inspectorate on a weekly basis, reports the spokesperson for the inspectorate. Among the other debtors who failed to pay their workers for 2 or more months are Kusinskiy lead Ltd. (arrears of 239,800 RUR), Ashabyservice (220,000 RUR), EnergoService of Kusa (155.600 RUR), Doverie Plus Ltd. of Katav-Ivanovsk (113,400 RUR), and some other companies.

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Chelyabinsk JSC (part of Mechel) has recently announced that the company was going to delegate the sole executive powers to Mechel Managing Company Ltd. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, the company signed the corresponding agreement after such decision had been made at the annual general meeting with the hope of improving the company’s management structure. Former GD Sergey Malyshev was appointed the company’s Managing Director.

Tube Metallurgical Company JSC summed up the results of its activity in the six months of 2006. Throughout January to June 2006, the company has shipped 1,459,000 tons of various tubes and pipes and 319,800 tons of rolled metal and uninterruptedly-casted billets. Since the beginning of the year, the company has smelted 1,107,900 tons of iron.

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil JSC (part of Evraz Group) has recently introduced a program aimed at assisting their employees with paying mortgage loans. So far, twelve of the company’s metallurgists have received the agreement of the Complex to pay their interest rate and placed mortgage loan applications with the local banks. In the meantime, the company has been updating the list of those willing to move to a better dwelling for the year 2006. The list will be used to sign the agreements that should make it possible for the employees to receive financial support from the

Vanadium Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise of Kachkanar (part of Evraz Group) started reclaiming the muck stacks through revegetation and planting trees. The company’s ore managing department reclaims five hectares of slopes annually. This year, most of the work is to be done in the third and fourth quarters: the company’s employees should cover the stacks with loam that creates the artificial root layer and then sow various grass seeds. The company is currently revegetating both the muck stacks and the slime pool; one hectare of the slope of the obstructing bank will be reclaimed as well.

Ural Turbine Works CJSC (part of Renova Group) will supply a steam turbine to Belarus in 2007. The turbine is meant for producing heat and electricity at Minsk heating plant 3 alongside with the 80-megawatt generator produced in Novosibirsk by ELSIB, the 170-megawatt gas turbine produced by Alstom, and the Slovenian waste-heat boiler produced by SES Energy. The Ural plant should supply the Т-53/67-8.0 turbine and the generator from Novosibirsk as well as some additional equipment; the company’s technicians will also complete the assembling, reports their spokesperson.