Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) on Wednesday successfully tested the Pre-heating process of Coke Oven-I (battery) mill, after the Oven's capital repair/overhauling by a team of engineers from Ukraine and Pakistan Steel. With the completion of repairing of battery Pakistan Steel Mills' production is expected to enhance up to 70 percent from next month.
The contract for repair of this battery was awarded to international company of Ukraine named Messers Kinkward Industrial Project Limited. Acting Chief Executive Officer PSM Imtiaz Ahmed Khan Lodhi inaugurated the process. Coke is a very essential raw material for steel making. After starting production of coke from this battery, Pakistan Steel will be able to save big amount of foreign exchange being paid to foreign suppliers of coke, said Imtiaz Lodhi on this occasion.
He said five ships are expected to bring coal and iron ore for PSM in December and January 2011 after that shortage of raw material would be minimised. In addition, present management of Pakistan Steel has been focussing on outsourcing local raw materials and around 30,000 metric tons of local coal and ore will be use by the Mills during the current month. On the occasion acting chief executive Officer praised the Ukraine and PSM engineers for timely completion of this task.