Mechel Announces Commissioning of Gas Cleaning System at Its Otelu Rosu Facility...

Mechel Announces Commissioning of Gas Cleaning System at Its Otelu Rosu
Facility in Romania

OTELU ROSU, Romania, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mechel OAO
(NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces
it is launching a gas cleaning system in the arc furnace shop of its Otelu
Rosu facility at Ductil Steel, a Romanian company acquired by Mechel in April
2008.
Commissioning of the gas cleaning system was timed with the celebration of
Metallurgist Day in Romania and represents one more step in implementing the
equipment modernization program at Mechel's Romanian facilities. Ensuring a
safe environment at the facilities is one of the priorities of the program.
The gas cleaning system has been supplied by Italian-based Tecoaer
Company, and meets the highest demands on machinery and technologies. The
total amount of investments into the project is 12 million euro
($17.5 million).
The equipment capacity totals 2,000,000 cubic meters per hour. Operation
of the new system will reduce dust emissions into the air to 5 mg per cubic
meter, well below the maximum dust emission of 10 mg per cubic meter allowed
under European standards.
Furthermore, the gas cleaning system contains automation equipment and
devices for transportation of retained dust. The contract also covers services
for basic engineering, installation supervision and technical support. Other
Romanian companies that participated in this project included ICSH Hunedoara
and Mechel Proiectare Bucuresti, each of which provided design, installation
and other services.
Deployment of the new gas cleaning system will improve working conditions
for Otelu Rosu employees and decrease environmental impact. Ensuring a safe
environment and improved working conditions at production sites is one of the
primary goals for implementing technical renovation projects in all of
Mechel's facilities. Similar equipment installations have already been
instituted at some of the Company's other subsidiaries, including: Mechel
Targoviste (Romania) and the Bratsk and Tikhvin Ferroalloy plants.
Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes
three segments: mining, steel, and power. Mechel unites producers of coal,
iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, rolled products, hardware, heat and
electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.
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.
SOURCE Mechel OAO

Ilya Zhitomirsky of Mechel OAO, +7-495-221-88-88, ilya.zhitomirsky@mechel.com