Representatives of SMS Demag and WISDRI visited the premises of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) in order to discuss the implementation of the Mill 5000 project.

First, the company’s Construction Director Valentin Antonyuk took the visitors to the construction site where over one thousand people are working on the mill. The foundation work is nearly complete, and 19,000 tons out of 32,000 tons of metalwork have been assembled already.

‘We get new impressions every time we visit. The project is being implemented on a gargantuan scale, and we can definitely see serious progress in terms of metalwork. However, there is still a long way to go,’ said SMS Demag Vice President Dieter Rosenthal.

Then, the visitors took part in the first ad hoc committee meeting attended by MMK Management Company Vice Presidents Gennady Senichev and Vladimir Shmakov and the company’s chief millman Alexander Titov. The main points on the meeting’s agenda had to do with the design work, the terms of equipment assembling, and the project schedule.

MMK and SMS Demag signed the contract for the delivery of full set of machinery for Mill 5000 plate mill in November 2006. The unit is expected to be launched in the middle of 2009. The Chinese company WISDRI is responsible for putting up the water treating and electricity supply systems.