The casting bay, valued at 17 million Euros, is, after the forging shop of metal semi-products and after the renovation of the rolling mill for billets, the third largest investment that Metal Ravne has implemented in a little over a year. The new acquisition was ceremoniously opened by the Minister for the Economy, Dr. Matej Lahovnik, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Slovenian Steel Group (SIJ) along with a representative of the majority owner, the Industrial Metallurgical Holding (IMH), Andrej B. Zubitsky, Chairman of the Board of the Slovenian Steel Group (SIJ) Tibor Šimonka and the managing director of Metal Ravne, Andrej Gradišnik.

The new casting bay was inaugurated by (from left to right): Mr. Tibor Šimonka – chairman of the SIJ management board, Mr. Andrej Zubitsky president of the SIJ supervisory board, Dr. Matej Lahovnik – minister of economic affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, and Mr. Andrej Gradišnik – director general of Metal Ravne.

“Steel is hard and powerful, it is splendid and sharp and it represents pride and character. It has been bringing work and food to the people of the Mežiška valley for centuries. Our electric arc furnace is a symbol of tradition and quality; it is a metaphor for knowledge, courage, association and persistence of workers from Koroška. The new and additionally expanded modern automatic casting bay, which we ceremoniously open today, enables us to benefit fully from the capacity of our electric arc furnace. We can now cast 140,000 tons of ingots annually. The yield has been improved, the consumption of cooling water and sand for casting has been decreased, the reproducibility of ingot casting conditions has been achieved and safer working conditions and less physically arduous work has also been assured,” stated Andrej Gradišnik in his speech, before thanking the steelworkers and numerous contractors for well-coordinated work, which, despite numerous interventions, allowed the regular manufacturing process to proceed relatively uninterrupted.

Following a cultural programme, the guests paid a visit to the automatic casting plate preparation and discharging line in the scope of the new casting bay.

Tibor Šimonka, Chairman of the Board of the Slovenian Steel Group (SIJ) said:
“We are proud that the recession has not thrown us off the planned investment track. On the contrary, we have achieved all the set goals with even greater enthusiasm because we know that this is the only way that our group can keep and increase its market share. In achieving these goals, an important part will be played by the 'steel centres'. One of these centres is available to Slovenian clients of Metal Ravne in Ljubljana; another will soon be opened in the nearby Bleiburg in Austria, and we are also striving to subsequently open other such steel centres. By developing and opening these centres, we will also be making a step in the direction of not being solely a supplier of materials. We wish to be a supplier of high-quality steel semi-manufactured products.
For this, we need top-quality workers and their descendants. We already have these workers, impressive professionals and innovators and I would like to offer them a professional and personal advancement at the company that will make them even more motivated to accomplish their goals and the goals of the company and the SIJ Group. I congratulate the management and the workers of Metal Ravne for another successfully concluded project and wish them an abundance of orders of the famous ingots from Ravne.”

Casting is launched accompanied by orchestra music.