Companies@UA: База компаний Украины

Karaganda, August 4 (Interfax-Kazakhstan) - Steel giant ArcelorMittal postponed construction of a new steel mill in Temirtau in the same area, where the company operates its subsidiary, ArcelorMittal Temirtau.

"ArcelorMittal Temirtau postpones its plans for construction of a steel mill with the capacity of 4 million tons a year due to the global crisis," company's general director Frank Pannier was quoted as saying by company's press office.

"We are currently enduring difficulties due to the insufficient capacity load of the existing facilities. If we start constructing a mill during that difficult time, would we be able to guarantee its full capacity load, while the demand is slowing down in the world markets?" Pannier said. "The crisis makes us saving on everything," he added.

Company's general director, however, assured that the mill would "certainly" be built in the future.

In October 2008, Arcelor Mittal Temirtau joined forces with Dastur & Ko Ltd consulting firm for engineering of a metal making facility in Temirtau with the capacity of 4 ml tons of steel a year. The project value was $7 billion tenge. The steel mill was expected to boost company's annual production capacity to 10 million tons.

Arcelor Mittal Temirtau also suspended the largest environmental project valued at $120 million, construction of the gas purification facilities at the converter plant, a major source of pollution.

"It's a temporary delay, we are not quitting the project completely. Currently we are seeking more cost effective options to fit the minimum budget and not provoke quality complaints from the Environmental Ministry," Arcelor Mittal Temirtau production director Viktor Adyakin told Interfax-Kazakhstan.

Arcelor-Mittal Temirtau (formerly Ispat Karmet), the largest steel plant in Kazakhstan, is part of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel company. The group acquired the Kazakh plant in mid 1990s and made it a fully integrated metal combine, with early production reaching 5.5 million tons. The company owns 15 coalmines and metal ore mines.