The Metalloinvest Board has approved a $281mn investment for the steelmaker’s environmental program spanning five years.
The company committed to reducing pollutants by 7pc between 2020 and 2025, it indicated in a presentation that also reported its H1 2020 earnings. The Russian company said that the total atmospheric emissions from its four steel plants—LGOK, MGOK, OEMK, and Ural Steel—had risen by 6.8pc to 125,000mt last year compared with 2018. The rise prompted the steelmaker to announce the initiative.
Under the program, Metalloinvest plans to fully transition MGOK and OEMK to a closed-loop water recycling system. It will also transition its LGOK plant to reduce wastewater discharge by 50pc, through onsite waste and materials processing. Metallo also plans to achieve a 33pc reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) formation at LGOK and MGOK, by constructing $30mn worth of conveyor facilities. The company aims to reduce the GHG output from its iron ore operations by 1mn mt.
Some of the company’s $450mn capex in 2020 also went towards improving its carbon footprint by 13pc from 2019, Metalloinvest indicated. Capex dipped by 5.4pc to $209mn in H1 2020 over H1 2019. The expenditure included $14mn towards high productivity ming vehicles for the firm’s MGOK and LGOK plants and $4mn for improvements in their electric power supply. At Ural Steel, the steelmaker spent $25mn to modernize blast furnaces #2 and #3.
Metalloinvest’s revenue decreased by 14.2pc to $3.1bn in H1 2020, from the same period in 2019. Net income fell 48pc to $530mn compared to $1bn in the same period under comparison. The company had released its H1 production data earlier this month.
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