Lebedinsky GOK DRI plant

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Lebedinsky GOK DRI Plant (Лебединский горно-обогатительный комбинат (Russian)), also known as LGOK HBI, is a 4500 thousand tonnes per annum (TTPA) direct reduced iron (DRI) iron plant operating in Gubkin, Belgorod, Russia.

Location

The map below shows the location of the steel plant in Gubkin, Belgorod, Russia.

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• Location: Promzona, Gubkin-11, Gubkin, Belgorod Oblast, Russia, 309191
• Coordinates (WGS 84): 51.261995, 37.654622 (exact)

Background

Lebedinsky GOK is one of the largest enterprises in Russia and the CIS that specializes in extraction and enrichment of iron ore, and production of iron ore raw materials and metal products. Lebedinsky GOK was put into operation in 1971.

As of November 2020, the plant was planning to increase its DRI production by 10% by 2023.

DRI Expansion Project

In 2021, Metalloinvest signed a contract with a consortium of Primetals Technologies (United Kingdom) and Midrex Technologies (USA) for the supply of equipment for a new complex with the annual capacity of 2080 TTPA of hot-briquetted iron (HBI) at the Lebedinsky GOK DRI plant (HBI-4 Plant). The project was estimated to cost $600 million. The company planned to launch production by the end of 2024. However, the construction has been delayed as the company has to find new suppliers of technology for the project due the sanctions imposed as a result of the Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In March 2023, Director of Investments and Development at Lebedinsky GOK Sergey Nuzhny mentioned in an interview that the company was exploring alternative technologies for HBI production without the previous partners. The company might use its own own engineering capabilities to develop its own technology.

In October 2023, Metalloinvest confirmed that the company was collaborating with leading Russian industrial companies and think tanks to develop low-carbon hydrogen production and utilization technologies. The company is also exploring opportunities for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage technologies. Currently, Metalloinvest can use up to 55% "gray" hydrogen obtained through methane conversion in the HBI and DRI production. Once built, the new plant will be able to use up to 30% of "green" hydrogen in the mid-term perspective.

Plant Details

Table 1: General Plant Details

Plant status	Start date	Workforce size
operating	1971	9459

Table 2: Ownership and Parent Company Information

Parent company	Parent company PermID	Owner	Owner company PermID
Limited Liability Company Holding Company YueSeM [100%]	5079214447 [100%]	Lebedinskiy GOK AO	5000075458

Table 3: Process and Products

Steel product category	Steel products	ISO 50001	Main production equipment	Detailed production equipment
crude	HBI (DRI)	2019	direct reduced iron (DRI)	3 Midrex DRI plants (Midrex 2 (1.4 MTPA, began in 2007), Midrex 38 (1.8 MTPA, began in 2017))

Table 4: Crude Iron Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum):

Sponge iron/DRI capacity	Nominal iron capacity (total)
4500 TTPA	4500 TTPA

Table 5: Upstream Products Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

Sinter	Pellets
22063 TTPA	8968 TTPA

Table 6: Actual Crude Iron Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum):

Year	BF Production	DRI Production	Total (all routes)
2020	–	4638 TTPA	4638 TTPA
2021	–	4500 TTPA	4500 TTPA

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Steel Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.