OMK has signed a deal with Spain's Fagor and Italy's Danieli for rolling mill spare parts

Pipe and metals holding United Metallurgical Company (OMK) will invest upwards of $140 million in the expansion of the first stage of a smelter, which is under construction in the Nizhny Novgorod region, OMK said in a statement.

OMK has just signed a deal with Spain's Fagor costing EUR 14.1 million to supply a coil cutting line. OMK also signed a EUR 3.5-million contract with Italy's Danieli in February for rolling mill spare parts.

The new equipment will increase the smelter's first stage capacity from 1.2 million tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes of hot rolled steel annually and broaden its product range. The smelter will be able to produce not just coils but also sheet 0.8-12.7-mm thick and 800-1,800 mm wide.

OMK plans to commission the first stage of the steel plant, for which Danieli is the main equipment suppler, at the beginning of 2008.