Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works : Russian Deputy PM visits MMK, Attraction Park in Magnitogorsk

During a working visit to the Chelyabinsk region, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova toured Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) and the grounds of Attraction Park in Magnitogorsk.

Alongside the Chairman of MMK's Board of Directors, Viktor Rashnikov, the Deputy Prime Minister inspected the Company's coke plant No. 12, which is currently under construction. Once it comes online, the plant will enable MMK to improve both its production and its environmental performance considerably. The new plant will have a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of dry coke per year. With the launch of the new facility, outdated coke plants will be phased out, which will reduce gross atmospheric emissions by 11.35 thousand tonnes per year.

Deputy Prime Minister Golikova and Mr Rashnikov also discussed the issue of ensuring that the Company is able to meet its staffing needs. MMK has been collaborating closely for many years with educational institutions - first and foremost, with Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University (NMSTU), which has trained more than one generation of MMK employees. The Company also provides career guidance for schoolchildren. The Quantorium technology park for children was created in 2018 as part of a targeted federal programme called Educational Development, with the support of the Governor of the Chelyabinsk region and MMK. The main objective of Quantorium is to help train highly qualified engineering personnel as well as to develop, test and introduce innovative technologies. In 2022, MMK helped establish IT Cube, a digital education centre for children, at Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University.

As part of the federal Professionalism project, which provides opportunities for hands-on experience for rising professionals in different fields, MMK supported the opening of an education and manufacturing cluster for training metallurgical and metallurgical engineering personnel at NMSTU's Multidisciplinary College. Outfitted with state-of-the-art laboratories and high-tech equipment, the cluster offers educational programmes focused on practical training, internships and subsequent employment at MMK Group. More than 800 students are currently taking part in these programmes.

Deputy Prime Minister Golikova also visited Attraction Park in Magnitogorsk, a project initiated by Mr Rashnikov and of which he is the main investor. Attraction Park is a multifunctional space covering 400 hectares that is open year-round. The launch of the park's first two phases, in 2022 and 2023, transformed the grounds of a former greenhouse and garden cooperative into a modern and qualitatively new space for walks, meetings, recreation and sports. Open to both residents and visitors, the park is home to playgrounds, a 36-metre-high artificial hill with an observation deck that is used for skiing and snowboarding in winter, an artificial lake, an open-air sports complex, and a network of walking and cycling paths covering a total length of 40 km. Some 5,700 trees, 340,000 shrubs and 1 million perennial flowers have been planted in the park, which has welcomed over 3 million visitors since opening.

The park's future projects include the construction of a multidisciplinary healthcare centre to treat residents not only of Magnitogorsk but also of neighbouring regions. Mr Rashnikov also told Deputy Prime Minister Golikova about the establishment of a hockey academy in Magnitogorsk that will greatly improve the training of the next generation of players for the Metallurg hockey club, which won the Gagarin Cup this year for the third time in its history.