Vladimir Lisin re-elected as the Chairman of NLMK’s Board of Directors

NLMK’s Board of Directors recently held its first meeting since the Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting. Vladimir Lisin was elected Chairman of the Board, and Vladimir Skorokhodov was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Board.

The Board of Directors also approved a schedule for Board meetings, and established Board Committees made up of the following members: 

NLMK Appoints Konstantin Lagutin as Vice President for Investment Projects

NLMK announced the appointment of Konstantin Lagutin to the newly-created position of Vice President for Investment Projects.

The main priorities for the new manager will include general coordination of the company's investment activities and preparation for the gradual roll-out of а corporate project management system, based on the best practices from Russia and the rest of the world.

VIZ-Steel implements energy-efficient technologies

VIZ-Steel has commenced the installation of a steam reforming facility that will replace the more expensive electrolysis method used during the process of electrical steel production.  Once the facility is launched, natural gas consumption for producing hydrogen by means of reforming will be reduced 37 times compared to the current method, bringing VIZ-Steel energy consumption down by 86 million kWh/y.

NLMK Audits For Nord Stream Participation

NLMK has successfully passed an audit conducted by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), a Norwegian certification agency, to become a potential supplier of slabs for large-diameter pipe manufacturing for the Nord Stream Extension Project (NEXT).

DNV audited NLMK’s production processes for heavy slabs 355 mm thick and 2,150 mm wide: scrap preparation – steelmaking, secondary metallurgy, and casting – and steel slab surface and macrostructure quality control. The auditors verified the Company’s process documentation for compliance with international standards, and audited the training and education programmes for staff in BOF Shop #2. 

NLMK Approves Upstream Efficiency Enhancement Programme in Lipetsk

NLMK today held a management board meeting at its main production site in Lipetsk. The management board approved a business process improvement programme for its flagship Lipetsk site to further enhance the efficiency of  its upstream operations, namely sintering, blast furnace, coke and chemical, and steelmaking. Sergey Filatov, NLMK Managing Director, presented the programme. Vladimir Lisin, Chairman of the Board of Directors at NLMK, participated in the development of the programme and presided at an on-site meeting with the management.

The management decided to introduce these operational improvements at Novolipetsk in order to further improve process efficiency and optimize the use of resources. 

NLMK Successfully Closes its US$800 Million 5-year Eurobond

Novolipetsk metal works yesterday announced the closing of its US$800 million 5-year Eurobond offering with an annual coupon rate of 4.45%. The proceeds from the issue will be used for NLMK’s general corporate purposes, including the refinancing of its debt.

The order book was several times oversubscribed, with participation of a broad range of international investors, including investors in the United States (48%), the United Kingdom (18%), Switzerland (14%), Continental Europe (16%), as well investors from Russia and other regions (4%). Approximately 70% of the issue was purchased by asset managers. 

NLMK Enhances Employee Collaboration to Create Efficiencies

NLMK’s main production site in Lipetsk, announces the results of its annual innovation contest. Throughout the year, more than 1,600 employees from 55 of the company’s units took part in the contest. A total of 2,035 efficiency and 480 cost cutting proposals were accepted for implementation.

Three inventions, two utility models, 1,996 efficiency and 412 cost cutting proposals were implemented in production areas. Three applications for proposed inventions and nine applications for utility models were sent to the Federal Institute of Industrial Property, seven patents were received from Rospatent (Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks) for inventions and utility models, and five state registration certificates were issued for computer software. 

Grigory Fedorishin succeeds Galina Aglyamova as Vice President of Finance in NLMK

NLMK  announces that Galina Aglyamova has decided to step down as NLMK Group Vice President of Finance starting from December 28, 2012, to take on a new career challenge; she will be succeeded in this position by Grigory Fedorishin, formerly Director of Strategy and Business Development of the company.

Ms. Aglyamova was appointed NLMK Group Vice President of Finance in 2006. Prior to that she served as NLMK’s Deputy General Director of Economics and Finance. With Ms. Aglyamova as the head of NLMK’s economics and finance, the company has reached a truly global status, doubling its asset value, and delivering record financial performance. An efficient financial strategy ensured NLMK’s stability and supported its dynamic development through the crisis. 

NLMK'S Energy Management System Complies With International Standards

Recently in Moscow, representatives of TÜV SÜD, the German certifying agency, awarded NLMK with international certificate 50001:2011 “Energy management systems — Requirements with Guidance for Use”. NLMK became the first Russian steelmaker to have its energy resource management system certified for compliance with international requirements.

Over the last five years, NLMK\'s efforts aimed at enhancing the sustainable use energy resources at its main production site in Lipetsk have helped to reduce the specific energy intensity of steel production by 11.5% y-o-y to 5.86 Gcal/t in 2012 by using higher volumes (86%) of by-product gases from metallurgical processes, as well as by undertaking a number of steps to cut energy costs. 

NLMK Indiana Production Beats All-time Records

Recently, the NLMK Indiana, a US subsidiary of NLMK Group, has broken all time production records.

During January – October period of 2012 NLMK Indiana produced over 617,000 tonnes (hereinafter metric tonnes) of slabs and over 586,000 tonnes of hot rolled coils. Melt Shop utilization rates reached 96.1%.

These results exceeded the previous 2011 records established at 610,000 tonnes of slabs and 584,000 tonnes of HRC. Operations in November and December will allow NLMK Indiana to overachieve the record by more than 15% in 2012, exceeding 700,000 tonnes.