Russian ferrous miner Metalloinvest expects to double its iron ore pellet output to 5.6mn mt per year after it upgrades the plants at Mikhailovsky GOK and increases hot metal production to 2.7mn mt by the end of 2021, owing to the modernization of the Ural Steel facility.
Iron ore
In Q1 2021, the company produced 10.3mn mt of iron ore, flat from last year’s quarter. Pellet production also trended flat at 7.1mn mt on an annual basis and was up 4pc from the prior quarter. However, Metalloinvest’s HBI/DRI production fell by 1.3pc to 2.1mn mt in Q1 2021. The miner shipped 6.4mn mt of iron ore products in the first quarter, down by 4.2pc annually.
Steel
The company’s hot metal production amounted to 600,000mt in Q1 2021, down by 19pc from Q1 2020. Crude steel production also fell 2.6pc to 1.2mn mt during the same period under comparison. Pig iron shipments fell 19pc annually to 300,000mt.