Beloretsk, Russia – December 20, 2010 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and steel companies, announces the launch of a new production line for steel electrode copper-coated wire on December 18 at its Beloretsk Metallurgical Plant (BMP) subsidiary.

The commissioning ceremony was attended by Plenipotentiary Presidential Representative in the Volga Federal District Grigory Rapota, President of the Republic of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Bashkortostan Yuri Pustovgarov, Mechel OAO’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Igor Zyuzin, BMP’s Managing Director Viktor Kamelin and other guests.

At the ceremony, held in the plant’s workshop ¹6, Plenipotentiary Presidential Representative in the Volga Federal District Mr. Rapota and President of the Republic of Bashkortostan Mr. Khamitov congratulated the metallurgists with the event. Mr. Rapota noted that the plant not only did not yield its positions during the crisis, but strengthened them.

After Mr. Rapota, Mr. Khamitov and Mr. Zyuzin launched the new line by pressing a symbolic button, Mr. Kamelin described the line’s new technology and advised the plant’s guests of its production’s qualities and applications. As the guests watched, the first meters of copper-coated wire were produced and packaged.

The new production line can produce annually 7.9 thousand tonnes, including 4.2 thousand tonnes of 0.8- to 2.0-mm steel electrode copper-coated wire and 3.7 thousand tonnes of 3.0-mm bright wire.

“The steel electrode wire is in steady demand and is used in construction, energy, automobile, oil and gas industries. The Beloretsk Metallurgical Plant has proved itself as a reliable supplier of copper-coated wire. With this launch, the enterprise will boost its presence on the hardware market,” Mechel OAO’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Igor Zyuzin noted.