Metalloinvest to build second ball rolling facility at OEMK

Metalloinvest has signed an agreement with EZTM for the supply of equipment for the construction of a second ball rolling facility at Alexey Ugarov OEMK.

The annual production capacity of the new ball rolling facility (BRF #2) is projected to be around 73,000 tonnes of rolled steel grinding balls with diameters of 20, 40 and 60 mm and of hardness groups 4-5.

Metalloinvest's investment in the project will amount to over 1.7 bn roubles and will create 126 new jobs. The facility is scheduled to become operational in November 2023.

Alexey Kushnarev, Managing Director of OEMK, said: “The launch of BRF #2 will enable us to broaden our product mix and fully satisfy demand from Metalloinvest's mining segment enterprises. We also plan to supply grinding balls to external customers.”

The new facility will supplement OEMK's existing capacity. BRF #1, launched in 2020, produces balls with diameters of 100 and 120 mm. Additionally, it has the capacity to produce 90 mm balls and is considering introducing the production of 80 mm balls. By the end of the year, the enterprise plans to produce about 46,000 tonnes of balls.

Grinding balls are used for crushing ore in ball mills at mining and processing enterprises. The use of balls of varying diameters and hardness groups makes it possible to produce raw materials across a range of grinds, from coarse to fine fractions.