New Lipetsk Metallurgical Plant

a large enterprise of the metallurgical industry of the USSR; located in the city of Lipetsk. The plant manufactures cast iron, steel, rolled sheet steel, ferrous alloys, coke, acetylene black, and ammonia liquor. Construction of the plant (based on the Lipetsk iron ore deposits) was begun in 1931. The first batch of cast iron was produced on Nov. 7, 1934.

In 1941–42, the equipment of the blast-furnace shop and the heat and electric power plant was disassembled and evacuated to Cheliabinsk. The remaining equipment was used to meet the needs of the front. By 1950–51 two blast furnaces had been rebuilt. A shop for hot rolling of transformer steel was put into operation in 1957, followed in 1958–59 by an electric-smelting shop, with equipment for continuous steel casting (the plant was the first in the world to introduce exclusive use of such equipment). In 1960 a shop for cold rolling of transformer steel was put into operation. Since that time the plant has been the country’s primary supplier of cold-rolled transformer steel. As of 1973 the plant had a sintering plant, coal-tar chemical and nitrogen-fertilizer shops, and electrical steel-smelting, converter, sheet-rolling, and auxiliary shops. All main metallurgical processes are automated and mechanized; electronic computers are used. In February 1973 a new blast furnace with a working volume of 3,200 cu m was started up. A number of new facilities were under construction as of 1974—for example, a blast furnace with a volume of 5,000 cu m. The production of cast iron in 1973 exceeded the 1965 level by a factor of 2.4; production of steel, by a factor of 11.1; production of rolled stock, by a factor of 11.6. Part of the output is exported. The plant has been awarded the Order of Lenin (1971).