Material Resources Use

Metalloinvest strives to maximise efficiency in its use of resources and waste generation and is making significant efforts to reduce material consumption and increase the proportion of recycled and reused raw materials.

Metalloinvest enterprises form a direct production chain. The holding’s mining enterprises (Lebedinsky GOK and Mikhailovsky GOK) produce iron ore raw materials, which are both finished products that can be sold as well as the main material resource used in the production process at the holding’s metallurgical enterprises (OEMK and Ural Steel).

In addition to iron ore, the metallurgical enterprises use coking coal and scrap metal in their production cycle. The use of material resources increased overall in the reporting period due to an increase in production capacity in the same period, in particular due to an increase in the production of pellets, HBI, DRI, pig iron, and steel.

Overburden rocks are generated as a by-product during the stage of extraction and recovery of iron ore raw materials. Metalloinvest cares about the maximum efficiency of resource use and strives to use all the by-products of mining and production. In particular, if overburden rocks are suitable for use as mineral raw materials, the Company takes advantage of this opportunity by processing them into an alternative product (for example, overburden rocks have become widely used in the production of crushed stone for road filling).

Data on clays and loams was adjusted in comparison with the 2017 Corporate Social Responsibility Report.

A number of waste products that can be recycled or reused are generated during the metallurgical cycle when manufacturing products. The Company supports the idea of efficiently utilising resources and ships a significant proportion of the waste it generates for reuse. In particular, blast furnace slag can be used in construction work (for example, for concrete mixes) or can be resold to construction companies, while internal scrap can be reused in the production process.

Production waste that cannot be reused is recycled, disposed of, or transferred to other organisations. During the reporting period, the Company managed to significantly increase the volume of recycled waste (by 8.4%) and waste transferred to other organisations (by 6.8%), while decreasing the volume of disposed waste (by 2%).

Most of the waste (98%) consists of overburden and barren rock as well as refinement tailings, is classified as Hazard Class 5, and has virtually no effect on ecological systems. The total volume of waste edged up by 1% during the reporting period, due to an increase in the volume of Hazard Class 5 waste (virtually non-hazardous waste) as well as increased production.