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Mechel Announces Milestone As Its Korshunov Mining Plant Reaches Production of 200 Million Tonnes of Iron Ore Concentrate

Posted on: Thursday, 30 August 2007, 09:19 CDT

ZHELEZNOGORSK-ILIMSKIY, Russia, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mechel OAO , one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces that its mining subsidiary, Korshunov Mining Plant OAO, has reached a milestone with the production of 200 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate since the plant's foundation.

Following the production of the 200 millionth tonne of iron ore concentrate, the company held a ceremony in Zheleznogorsk-Ilimskiy. The event was attended by the First Deputy Governor of the Irkutsk Region, Yury Paranichev; Head of the Nuzhne-Ilimskiy District, Simeon Guendelman; Executive Vice President for the Irkutsk Region of Mechel OAO, Boris Alekseev, and the employees and labor veterans of the plant.

Korshunov Mining Plant produced its first tonne of iron ore concentrate in February 1965. Following its affiliation with Mechel in 2003, the plant gained new opportunities for development and produced about 17 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate over the last four years, increasing its output annually.

In the past four years, two technological sections of the plant were completely restored. New equipment was installed comprised of two rod mills, two ball mills, 22 magnetic separators, eight vacuum filters, and more than ten units of pumping equipment. In addition, three new rod mills, 50 magnetic separators and filter units were acquired. The plant's mining machinery was substantially expanded to include 16 new 130-tonne BELAZ dump trucks, two new excavators, three drilling machines, and three bulldozers at its open pit mines.

Today, the plant conducts its operations at three open pit mines: Korshunov, Rudnogorsk, and Tatyaninsk. Work is continuously targeted at modernizing production, implementing modern technologies, and improving production safety. This enables the Korshunov Mining Plant to become one of the most dynamically developing enterprises in the region, create new jobs, and develop local social infrastructure.

In line with Mechel's capital expenditure program, the development of iron ore concentrate production envisages maintaining its output at 5 million tonnes annually, which corresponds to the production capacity of the Korshunov Mining Plant, with the concurrent cost reduction in iron ore production and concentration. The Company will continue to modernize mining and transportation equipment at the plant. Mechel plans to invest about US$90.0 million for the above purposes before 2010.

Mechel is one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore, nickel, steel, rolled products, and hardware. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward- Looking Statements" in our Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment, volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial risk management and the impact of general business and global economic conditions.

Mechel OAO

CONTACT: Ilya Zhitomirsky of Mechel OAO, +7-495-221-88-88,ilya.zhitomirsky@mechel.com

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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