Lebedinsky Mining and Processing Plant of Metalloinvest company has reached a production milestone: since the start of production, the company has shipped 70 million tons of hot-briquetted iron. The material is considered one of the key ones for modern "green" metallurgy due to its low carbon footprint and high metal content.
The production of HBI at the plant started in 1999 after four years of construction, initiated by the then head of the plant, Anatoly Kalashnikov. By 2001, the plant reached a stable mode of operation. Later, Metalloinvest consistently increased its capacity: the second line was launched in 2007, and the third, TsGBZh-3, in 2017, which became one of the largest in the world. The launch was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Today, Lebedinsky GOK remains the only producer of hot-briquetted iron in Russia and produces more than 4.6 million tons of products per year. The iron content in the briquette exceeds 90%, which allows the material to be used for smelting high-quality steel in electric arc furnaces. Compared to the traditional blast furnace-converter scheme, this technology reduces CO₂ emissions by about one and a half times.
The plant's products are in demand in industries with increased requirements for metal quality: automotive, bearing, hardware. The homogeneous composition of the briquettes ensures the purity of the alloy and the stability of technological parameters during remelting.
