OREANDA-NEWS. OJSC Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works ("MMK") Group plans to invest RUB 3.8 billion in environmental protection activities in 2017 - the highest amount in recent years. This was announced by Grigory Schurov, Director for Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Protection at MMK, at the Magnitogorsk academic-research conference on environmental safety.

In the report dedicated to the realisation of MMK’s ecological policy, he noted that the constant reduction and prevention of harmful effects on the environment, as well as the introduction of the best available technologies, are crucial elements of the company's strategy in order to ensure the long-term sustainable development of the plant. Since 2004, MMK has implemented and successfully operated an environmental management system certified for compliance with the requirements of the international standard ISO 14001. Since 1989, gross emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere have decreased almost fourfold. 

The most significant areas for environmental investment include the completion of the reconstruction of the sulphur collection unit no. 2 in sintering plant; the construction of aspiration systems for foundries on blast furnaces No. 9 and No. 10; the reconstruction of gas cleaning systems on a dual-shaft steelmaking unit and steel finishing units in the electric steel smelting shop; and the beginning of the reconstruction of the water circulating supply system at MMK. 

MMK plans to invest more than RUB 35 billion on the realisation of the group’s environmental policy by 2025. The key priority of the environmental activities is the reduction of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere. MMK has developed a strategic initiative entitled ‘Clean City’, the goal of which is to achieve a low level of atmospheric pollution in Magnitogorsk by 2025. 

Grigory Schurov also announced that in 2018 the processing of the plant's metallurgical waste (slag), the amount of which reached tens of millions of tonnes in previous years, will be complete. At present, there are just over 7 million tonnes left, and already by next year MMK will process only current metallurgical slag. 

The conference "Problems of Ensuring the Environmental Safety of Enterprises in the Mining and Metallurgical Complex and Single-Industry cities”, dedicated to the Year of Ecology in Russia, was held from 2021 June at MMK’s Corporate Training Centre. It was attended by about one hundred experts from the ecological field: managers and specialists from metallurgical enterprises; research, design and training institutes; and designers and manufacturers of environmental protection equipment from many cities of Russia, CIS and other countries. Excursions to the MMK production site took place as part of the conference, during which participants had an opportunity to get acquainted with the environmental protection facilities of the plant. 

About MMK 

MMK is one of the world's largest steel producers and a leading Russian metals company. The company's operations in Russia include a large steel-producing complex encompassing the entire production chain, from the preparation of iron ore to downstream processing of rolled steel. MMK turns out a broad range of steel products with a predominant share of high-value-added products. In 2016, the company produced 12.5 million tonnes of crude steel and 11.6 million tonnes of commercial steel products. MMK Group had sales in 2016 of USD 5,630 million and EBITDA of USD 1,956 million.