TMK highly appreciated advantages of Metalloinvest’s HBI usage

Dmitry Pumpyanskiy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TMK, and Alexander Shiryaev, CEO of TMK, have visited Lebedinsky GOK and OEMK (part of Metalloinvest).

During the visit, the management team of TMK learned about the production process of hot briquetted iron (HBI).

During the visit to OEMK, the TMK delegation was introduced to Metalloinvest's steel production technology using direct reduced iron (DRI) as the primary raw material. Using DRI (chemically identical to HBI), will allow OEMK to produce high quality steel, including long steel products (SBQ steel) with a narrow range of chemical compositions, low harmful additives content, high durability and plasticity. At a meeting with the TMK representatives and Andrey Varichev, CEO of Management Company Metalloinvest; Andrey Ugarov, First Deputy CEO and COO of Management Company Metalloinvest; and Nazim Efendiev, First Deputy CEO, Sales Director, Management Company Metalloinvest, the participants discussed the future opportunities for collaboration between the two companies. In particular, the meeting focused on the signing of a contract for HBI supply. It was noted that using HBI has enabled TMK to diversify its supply chain for the production of pipe billets and to increase the quality of its steel. In addition, the parties discussed the supply of flat products and long steel products, among others.

Dmitry Pumpyansky, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TMK, commented: "Metalloinvest is a longstanding and reliable partner to TMK. Our collaboration gives us the opportunity to produce high-quality products, which comply with the very highest requirements of our customers."

Andrey Varichev, CEO of Management Company Metalloinvest, added: "We have shown the delegation from TMK, our longstanding partner, our full production cycle, from the openpit mine to the production of hot briquetted iron at Lebedinsky GOK. We have clearly demonstrated the advantages of using metallised raw materials for the production of highquality steel in the electric arc furnace at OEMK. This meeting has strengthened the
relationship between the two companies and has enabled us to set out the future steps to broaden our partnership."

Metalloinvest has been supplying TMK enterprises with pipe billets, flat products, long steel products and iron ore raw materials for many years. In November 2016, Metalloinvest agreed a long-term contract for HBI with TMK. Today, TMK is the largest consumer of HBI in Russia: at the end of October 2017, the company's enterprises have received around 270,000 tonnes of the product.

HBI usage is one of the most promising development areas for the global steel industry. HBI is similar in its chemical composition to pig iron and is used as an additive to scrap metal in steel production. However, in contrast to scrap metal, HBI contains practically no harmful additives. HBI enables steel to be produced to the quality standards of the most demanding industries: automobile manufacturing and the hardware and bearings industries. Due to HBI's uniform composition, steel produced using it is notably pure in its make-up.

In July 2017, Metalloinvest launched the third hot briquetted iron production facility (HBI-3 Plant) at Lebedinsky GOK , with a production capacity of 1.8 mn tonnes per year. When the plant reaches design capacity, it will increase the Company's total HBI production capacity to 4.5 mn tonnes per year, further reinforcing Metalloinvest's leadership on the global HBI/DRI market.