MMK-Metalurji A.Ş. is a new generation ecologically friendly minimill with a production capacity of 2.3Mt/y of various high-margin flat steel rolled products. It is located in Iskenderun, southern Turkey.

An investment exceeding US$2bn was made by its Russian owner, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MKK), to construct the plant which was completed in 2010, and officially opened on March 9, 2011.

The Company comprises a minimill and steel service center, covering an area of 500ha in Dörtyol district close to Iskenderun as well as a second service center in Istanbul. The service centres process various flat steel products.

The 300t AC EAF is one of the most powerful worldwide and has an annual capacity of 2.4Mt/y crude steel. Steel is cast up to 1750mm wide on a thin slab caster supplied by Danieli which is directly linked to a Compact Strip mill. Further processing of the hot rolled coil is on a Continuous Pickling Line and a reversing cold-rolling mill. Downstream, there is hot-dip galvanizing and color coating lines.

In a short time after start-up the plant was able to achieve project capacity equating to 2.3Mt/y of hot-rolled coil, 800kt of cold-rolled coil, 900kt of galvanised coil and 400kt of colour coated coils with highest quality of products in low and medium C steels, MC and HSLA steel grades.

MMK-Metalurji has its own seaport on the Mediterranean coast able to handle 12Mt of cargo a year. The berthing length is 1200m and the water dredged to a depth of 30m enabling up to twelve vessels of various types − eg dry bulk, general cargo, scrap carriers, container ships and ro-ro vessels of up to 100000DWT, to be berthed and unloaded/ loaded simultaneously.

Proposed additional investment amounting to some $100M are planned to expand the mix of steel products towards more high value-added products and increase their share of the high-value-added sector, cut production costs and increase production efficiency. “We see such investments as well-timed and rational during the current phase of the economic cycle”, says CEO Vitaly Galkin.

The list of investment projects includes construction of an OxiCup shaft furnace and briquetting plant to treat plant dusts and also to melt pig-iron in order to reduce the Company’s consumption of scrap, the cost of which has closely followed that of coil in recent years. The OxiCup furnace will also make efficient use of production waste and replace bought-in pig iron with MMK’s own supplied from Russia. An additional mill stand is also planned.