16.9.2008
Ostrava September 16, 2008 – EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL company is celebrating 100th anniversary of its foundation this year, but this week there is another reason for celebration. In the steel plant the volume of 10 million tons of slabs has been reached, which have been cast since 1995 when the continuous casting device was put to operation. Slab (conti-product) is most often used as a semi-product for manufacturing of other products, for example rolling of so called heavy plates for manufacturing of ships. If such an amount of steel would be used to make a centimeter thick sheet, it could cover an area of 130km2, which is by 2.6 times more than the area of the biggest dam in the Czech Republic Lipno.
Today EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL celebrated reaching of the historical borderline of 10 million tons of slabs together with the 100th anniversary of its foundation at the International Engineering Fair in Brno by cutting a cake with a figure of Knight Vítek, who has been a patron of the company for more than 40 years. „I am happy that we have reached this volume just in the same year when our company is celebrating 100 years of its foundation,“ says the chairman of the board of directors and CEO of the company Ing. Vladimír Bail, Ph.D.
Currently, the Steel plant of EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL is using two oxygen converters OXYVIT, the device of secondary metallurgy system (ISSM), ladle furnace (LF) and continuous casting device (ZPO) to produce steel. The steel plant operates in a continuous system of shifts and employs 420 people. Steel is continuously cast into slabs with thickness of 145, 180 a 250 mm and width of 800 – 1580 mm. The most often manufactured type of slabs with size 250 x 1530 mm makes about 80 % of production in the Steel plant. Last year 891.200 tons of slabs were produced here.
Briefly from history of EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL:
The history goes back to 1828 when the construction of the Ironworks in the area of Vítkovice was decided. The history of EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL itself starts in 1908 when the construction of new lines of steel plant and rolling mill on a green field was approved. The construction started in spring 1909. In 1910 an amour-plate mill 4,5 duo of a new rolling mill was put to operation and then other mills followed (1912 – heavy mill 3,2 duo, 1914 - 2,3 trio, 1916 – 1,8 trio). The production in the new steel plant started in February 1913 when the first tapping was carried.
The company went successfully through the privatization and at the end of 2005 a large steel producing and mining Evraz Group became its owner. In June 2007 the company has been rebranded to EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s. thus achieving a complete integration into the Evraz Group.
Crest Communications Ostrava
Jaromír Krišica – company spokesman
Tel.: +420 596 620 435
krisica@crestcom.cz
EVRAZ VITKOVICE STEEL concentrates on the production of steel and steel products - heavy plates, heavy and medium sections, and flame-cut shapes from heavy plates. The company aims to continue increasing the sales of its products with high added value, such as deliveries of plates for pipelines. Thanks to the important support of the Evraz Group and its strong position on the Russian steel market the company has also successfully entered the Russian market of the pipeline industry. In the sphere of plates EVRAZ VITKOVICE STEEL is the main European manufacturer and the dominant manufacturer in the Czech Republic. The most important product of Heavy section rolling mill is sheet piles which represents a 65 % share of the mill's production. The company is the sole manufacturer of this product on the domestic market and holds a 90% market share.
Evraz Group S.A. is a large vertically-integrated steel, mining and vanadium business with operations in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Europe, USA, Canada and South Africa. Evraz produced 16.4 million tonnes of crude steel in 2007, ranking it among the 17 largest steel producers in the world by volume. Its mining operations cover 93% of iron ore and over 100% of coking coal internal consumption. Evraz's total consolidated revenues for the year ended 31 December 2007 were US$12,808 million and consolidated EBITDA was US$4,254 million. For 1H 2008 the consolidated revenues were US$10,726 million and EBITDA – US$3,700 million.
For further information visit www.evraz.com
