MECHEL ANNOUNCES COMMISSIONING OF THE SHAFT FURNACE NO. 8 AT ITS SOUTHERN URALS
NICKEL PLANT SUBSIDIARY


Moscow, Russia – May 27, 2009 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading
Russian mining and metals companies, announces commissioning of the Shaft
Furnace No. 8 after repair at its Southern Urals Nickel Plant subsidiary.
Shaft Furnace No. 8 has been restarted at Mechel’s Southern Urals Nickel Plant
subsidiary on May 26, 2009.  Thus, six shaft furnaces currently operate at the
plant.  The restart of the Furnace No. 8 resulted in the 15% increase in
utilization of the plant’s capacity. Considering total output of the six shaft
furnaces, Southern Urals Nickel Plant reached the level of 80% of average
monthly pre-crises output.
In December 2008, the plant decreased its output due to a lower demand for its
products.  Therefore, all its furnaces were put into stand-by mode except two,
which continued producing alloy. The time passed was used for maintenance works,
which were conducted, substantially, by the plant’s own personnel. Specifically,
the gas ducts of Shaft Furnaces No. 1-2 and No. 3-4 were repaired, which enabled
significant reduction of dust and gas emission rate.
As the result of the maintenance work completion and increase in demand for the
plant’s products, four shaft furnaces have been successively restarted from
March 2009.
Taking into account all operating furnaces’ total output during the first four
months of 2009 year-on-year, the plant’s productivity reached 20% increase in
tons per square metre per 24 hours.
From April 2009, the personnel of Southern Urals Nickel Plant resumed working
based on a full time schedule. From December 2008 to April 2009, as an
anti-crises measure the plant had shortened working day and working week.
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Mechel OAO
Ilya Zhitomirsky
Phone: + 7 495 221 88 88
[email protected]
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Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes four
segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy and power. Mechel unites producers of coal,
iron ore concentrate, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, hardware, heat and
electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.
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Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other
forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial
performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that
these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may
differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to
the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and
identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned
“Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our
Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among
others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and
synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the
ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of
developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment,
volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial
risk management and the impact of general business and global economic
conditions.