Annual report 2007 - Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works ...

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Greeting of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on the
occasion of the 7 th Anniversary of MMK:
“Built within a record time, the legendary Magnitka became not
only the most important industrial enterprise in the area, but also a
symbol of the country’s industrialization and its power. I am confident
that you will continue to make significant contributions to the
strengthening of the national economy”.
18.07.07
History
The Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works sprang up on the left bank of the Ural River in the first half of the
last century, next to a unique deposit of iron ore of Mountain Magnitnaya (“Magnetic Mountain).. This relatively
small tract of land contained almost half a billion tonnes of high grade iron ore.
That there is magnetic ore in the place was known as far back as the XVIII century. In 1743, not far from
Mountain Magnitnaya, the governor of Orenburg founded a fort of the same name (“Stanitsa Magnitnaya”).
In the late XIX century a Russian government committee lead by D.Mendeleyev, a world-renowned scientist,
explored the Urals Mountains and highly praised the quantity and quality of the ore in Mountain Magnitnaya.
The design of the Magnitogorsk Works started in May of 1925. Construction began in 1929 and was
completed within a record time. In spite of extremely hard conditions in which builders of Magnitka had to
work, on February the 1st of 1932 Blast Furnace # 1 produced first pig iron, with Blast Furnace # 2 following suit
in the summer of the same year.
1933 saw the start-up of Blast Furnaces ## 3 and 4, and four open-hearth furnaces, thus marking the start of
steel smelting at the Works.
In August 1934, the first section mill (500 mm) was brought on line. The mill turned the Works into a large
supplier of long products and a fully integrated steel mill. In the period from 1935 to 1938 the Works put 5 more
long products mills into operation. Before the Second World War the Works processed about 25% of all iron ore
mined in the USSR, produced 12% of pig iron and 10% of steel sheets.
Soon after the start of the war, the Works received an order for armour steel, and within a month such steel
was smelted. Thanks to an innovative solution, for the first time in the history of world steel making, armour
plate was rolled on a blooming mill. Another pioneering move was to smelt armour steel in a large-capacity
open hearth furnace. With the commissioning of the USSR’s most powerful 4,500 mm armour plate mill MMK’s
production of armour plate was significantly increased. In 1942–1943 the world’s largest Blast Furnaces ## 5 and
6 were started up at the Works. In the years of WWII every third shell and every second tank’s armour was made
from Magnitogorsk steel.
After the war MMK remained “the flagship” of the Soviet steel industry.
In 1966 the Works was operating 10 blast furnaces, 10 open-hearth furnaces and 15 rolling mills.
In 1989 MMK reached its highest ever level of steel production of 16 million tonnes.
In 1990 a new BOF (converter) steel making division was commissioned at MMK. .
In 1992, in accordance with the state privatization program, the Magnitogorsk Works was converted into an
open joint stock company (OJSC MMK). The key goal at this stage was to continue revamping and modernizing
the main production assets. In 1994 a 2,000 mm hot rolling mill with a capacity of 5 million tpy was brought on
stream. 1999 saw the commissioning of the third BOF Converter and of the coke gas treatment plant. The blast
furnace and sinter divisions were significantly upgraded. In 2002 two first-of-its-kind facilities were started up
at MMK: a 1,700 mm two-stand reversing cold mill with a capacity of 800,000 tpy of cold rolled strip, and the
country’s largest hot dip galvanizing line with a capacity of 500,000 tpy. This was followed in 2004 by a 200,000
tpy colour coating line.