The NLMK Group (Novolipetsk Steel) has completed the hot-testing of its new crushing and screening unit for the processing of steelmaking slag at its Lipetsk production site, NLMK reported. The project will double the amount of scrap, or “metal inclusions,” extracted from waste and returned to the production process.

The new unit will process 2.4 million tons of slag per year, replacing an obsolete unit, which processed 1.7 million tons of slag per year. Metal extraction efficiency at the new unit will be as high as 95 percent, which will minimize the consumption of iron ore and scrap in pig iron and steelmaking operations through their replacement with recoverables.

“The new unit will process the entire volume of our steelmaking slag, which is about 2.2 million tons per year, as well as allow us to eliminate the need to process slag via third parties. The unit will also help us recycle the previously accumulated waste. The Strategy 2017 project is our next step towards increasing the role of recycling in bringing down steelmaking costs and reducing our environmental footprint,” Novolipetsk managing director Sergei Filatov stated. Project capex totaled around RUB500 million (USD778,000).

Novolipetsk Steel is one of the three largest ferrous metallurgy enterprises in Russia. It produces over nine million tons of steel a year, as well as rolled steel of various grades. The NLMK Group’s key production assets are located in Russia, the E.U., and the U.S. The company’s labor force is 60 thousand employees. NLMK produces a wide range of various metal products.

The principal owner of NLMK is Fletcher Holdings Ltd. (85.91 percent of shares), whose beneficiary is the company’s chairman of the board of directors Vladimir Lisin. The companies whose beneficiaries are NLMK managers hold 2.8 percent of the shares. The free-float, including the company’s outstanding stock on the Russian stock exchanges and the GDRs on the London Stock Exchange, is 11.29 percent. The company’s authorized capital is RUB5,993,227,240. It consists of the same number of shares with a face value of one rouble.

The IFRS net profits of Novolipetsk Steel Group for the first half of 2016 to be allocated among the company’s shareholders decreased two times to USD242 million. Revenues decreased by 21 percent to USD3.446 billion due to a decline in steel prices. The EBITDA decreased by 33 percent to USD750 million. The EBITDA margin decreased to 22 percent from 26 percent the year before.

According to AK&M Information Agency’s DataCapital information retrieval system, the RAS net profit of Novolipetsk Steel for the first half of 2016 decreased by 22.59 percent to RUB24.039 billion (USD370 million) from RUB31.185 billion (USD480 million) the year before. Revenues decreased by 2.83 percent to RUB158.883 billion (USD2.45 billion) from RUB163.506 billion (USD2.53 billion); sales profits fell by 35.71 percent to RUB23.071 billion (USD360 million) from RUB35.885 billion (USD550 million); and pre-tax profits plummeted by 24.01 percent to RUB28.978 billion (USD450 million) from RUB38.136 billion (USD590 million).