Severstal (russian: Северсталь, , Northern Steel) is a Russian company mainly operating in the

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

and

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

industry, headquartered in

Cherepovets Cherepovets ( rus, Череповец, p=tɕɪrʲɪpɐˈvʲɛts) is a city in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the west of the oblast on the banks of the Sheksna River (a tributary of the Volga River) and on the shores of the Rybinsk Reservoir. ...

. Severstal is listed on the

Moscow Exchange The Moscow Exchange (MOEX; rus, Московская биржа, r=Moskovskaya birzha, p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈbʲirʐə, a=) is the largest exchange in Russia, operating trading markets in equities, bonds, derivatives, the foreign exchange market, ...

and

LSE LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used ...

and is the largest steel company in Russia. The company is majority-owned and controlled by billionaire

Alexey Mordashov Alexey Alexandrovich Mordashov ( rus, Алексей Александрович Мордашов; born 26 September 1965) is a Russian billionaire businessman. He is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia's largest steel and mini ...

. Severstal owns major industrial facilities in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, as well as in several African countries. The company also has mining assets, thus securing its supply of raw materials. Severstal also owns

Severstal Cherepovets Hockey Club Severstal is a professional ice hockey team based in Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League. History Founded in 1956, the club was originally known as Stroitel ...

, a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

club which plays in the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

and

Severstal Air Company Severstal Aircompany (Северсталь) is an airline with its head office on the property of Cherepovets Airport in Botovo village, Cherepovetsky District, Russia. Destinations As of July 2022, Severstal Aircompany operates services to the ...

, an airline operating mainly from

Vnukovo International Airport Vnukovo, formally Vnukovo Andrei Tupolev International Airport (named after Andrei Tupolev) ( rus, links=no, Внуково, p=ˈvnukəvə) , is a dual-runway international airport located in Vnukovo District, southwest of the centre of Moscow, ...

and

Cherepovets Airport Cherepovets Airport is an international airport in Botovo village, Cherepovetsky District, Vologda Oblast, Russia,ranked 37 among the largest steel makers. In 2021, Severstal was ranked no. 27 out of 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in the Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI).

History

1930s–1993: formation and transformation

During the early 1930s, deposits of

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

were discovered on the

Kola Peninsula sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк , image_name= Kola peninsula.png , image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast , image_size= 300px , image_alt= , map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg , map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblas ...

and, at about the same time large quantities of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

were discovered in the area of

Pechora Pechora (russian: Печо́ра; kv, Печӧра, ''Pećöra'') is a town in the Komi Republic, Russia, located on the Pechora River, west of and near the northern Ural Mountains. The area of the town is . Population: History Pechora was ...

. These two factors made it possible to establish a viable steel industry in the northwest of Russia. In 1940, the

Government of the Soviet Union The Government of the Soviet Union ( rus, Прави́тельство СССР, p=prɐˈvʲitʲɪlʲstvə ɛs ɛs ɛs ˈɛr, r=Pravítelstvo SSSR, lang=no), formally the All-Union Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly ab ...

published a resolution "''On The Organisation of Steel Making in the North-West of the USSR''", which created a

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

, a city accessible by both the

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Ekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administrat ...

railway and by the

Volga–Baltic Waterway The Volga–Baltic Waterway (Volgobalt, Волгобалт), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (Russian: Мариинская водная система), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Balti ...

. In 1947, the construction of Cherepovets Steel Mill was completed. Facility construction accelerated after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and at 3:25 PM on 24 August 1955, the Cherepovets steel mill was put into operation. Development continued in the following decades, making Cherepovets a major centre of steel production in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. On 24 September 1993, a decree by the

President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

, transformed the state-owned Cherepovets Iron and Steel Complex into the Severstal open

joint-stock A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are ...

company.

2004–2011: international expansion and acquisitions

In 2004, Severstal North America was created when Severstal acquired all the steelmaking assets of Rouge Steel, based in Michigan, USA. In April 2005, Severstal acquired a 19.9% stake in European steel producer

Gruppo Lucchini Gruppo Lucchini was the third largest Italian steel group after Gruppo Riva and Techint, with a 2005 production of 3.5 million tonnes. It is specialized in high quality long and special carbon steel products. In 2005 the Russian steel and mining ...

. In June 2005, Severstal acquired a listing on MICEX SE. In March 2006, the company launched an offer for the French conglomerate

Arcelor Arcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004. The company was created in 2002 ...

. The offer did not materialize and Arcelor was instead acquired by

Mittal Steel Mittal Steel Company N.V. was an Indian company and one of the world's largest steel producers by volume and turnover. After a merger in 2005, it is now part of ArcelorMittal. History Mittal Steel Company was formed as Ispat International in 19 ...

on 25 June 2006 to create

Arcelor Mittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second larg ...

. In April 2006, Severstal and Arcelor inaugurated the Severgal joint venture, at that time owned 75% by Severstal and 25% by Arcelor. In April 2006, Severstal acquired British wire producer Carrington Wire. In October 2006, Severstal acquired a controlling stake in Lucchini. In November 2006, Severstal Global Depository Receipts began trading on the London Stock Exchange priced at $12.50. In May 2007, Severstal acquired Arcelor's 25% stake in Severgal. In May 2007, Severstal acquired a further 9% of Lucchini. In February 2007, Severstal acquired Celtic Resources, a gold mining company with assets in Russia and Kazakhstan. In September 2007, Severcorr began operations in Columbus, Mississippi. In October 2007, Severstal acquired Aprelkovo and Nerungri Metallic, two gold mines in Eastern Russia. In May 2008, Severstal Metiz TAS agreed to the sale of the group TAS 34.6% share of JSC Dneprometiz to Severstal Metiz. In May 2008, Severstal acquired Sparrows Point, a steel mill in Maryland, USA, from Arcelor Mittal. In May 2008, Severstal Resources acquired a controlling stake in an iron ore deposit in Western Africa and becomes a shareholder of Mano River Resources In June 2008, Severstal acquired Esmark Inc. based in West Virginia, USA. In July 2008, Severstal acquired WCI Steel mill in

Warren, Ohio Warren is a city in and the county seat of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. Located in northeastern Ohio, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown and southeast of Cleveland. The population was 39,201 at the 2020 census. The his ...

, USA. In August 2008, Severstal Metiz acquired 100% of Redaelli Tecna. In August 2008, Severstal Resources acquired Balazhal Gold Mine in Kazakhstan. In November 2008, the company acquired PBS Coals based in Pennsylvania, USA. In November 2008, Severstal Resources acquired a controlling stake in High River Gold. In 2008, the company began a $500 million expansion to double the output of Severstal Columbus to 3.4 million tons. In January 2010, the company closed Carrington Wire. In March 2010, the company acquired all the shares of

from the Lucchini family and became the only shareholder of the company. In June 2010, the company sold 50.8% of Lucchini S.p.A. to a company controlled by Alexey Mordashov. In October 2010, the company acquired a 43.21% stake in Crew Gold. In October 2010, the company created Nord Gold Nv. In October 2010, the company received a license for Centralnoe coalfield in Tyva. In November 2010, an MOU with NSDC to build a steel mill in India was signed. In January 2011, the company acquired the remaining shares of Crew Gold. In March 2011, the company sold its facilities in Warren, Wheeling and Sparrows Point.

Developments since 2013

On February 11, 2013, the company's Vorkutinskaya mine, in the

Komi Republic The Komi Republic (russian: Республика Коми; kv, Коми Республика), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. Its capital is the city of Syktyvkar. The population of the ...

in northern

, experienced an explosion that caused the mine to collapse on a team of 22 people. A total of 18 people lost their lives in the accident. In March 2012, the company separated from Nord Gold. In 2014, Severstal divested its steelmaking operations in the United States, selling the former Rouge Steel plant in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...

AK Steel Holding AK Steel Holdings Corporation was a steelmaking company headquartered in West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio. The company, whose name was derived from the initials of Armco, its predecessor company, and Kawasaki Steel Corporation, was a ...

for $700 million, and its mini-mill in

Columbus, Mississippi Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterwa ...

, built in 2007, to Steel Dynamics for $1.63 billion. In January 2017, the company sold Redaelli Tecna. In July 2017, the company acquired the debt of the Yakovlevsky mine. In December 2021, according to group's

decarbonization Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels b ...

strategy, Severstal agreed to sell "Vorkutaugol" to "Russkaya energia" LLC for 15 billion roubles. The approval of the deal was postponed by

Federal Antimonopoly Service The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS) (russian: Федеральная антимонопольная служба России, ФАС России) is the federal-level executive governmental organ that controls the execution of the ...

in February 2022.

EU sanctions

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

placed sanctions on Severstal's majority shareholder,

, on 28 February. This forced the company to cease its steel shipments to Europe.

Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is one of the strategic priorities for Severstal, according to its annual reports. Starting 2010, the company has annually released a Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development report. In 2018, Severstal joined the

UN Global Compact The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is a princi ...

Environment

In 2018, Severstal became one of the pilots of the

World Steel Association World Steel Association, often abbreviated as worldsteel, is the international trade body for the iron and steel industry. The association is one of the largest and most dynamic industry associations in the world, with members in every major stee ...

’s programme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the global steel industry 'Step up'. In June 2019, in connection with the Presidential Decree dated 7 May 2018 No. 204 “On the National Goals and Strategic Objectives of the Development of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2024” and the Federal Project “Clean Air”, Severstal entered into the agreement on co-operation for reducing air emissions in Cherepovets with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, Rosprirodnadzor and the local authorities. In accordance with this agreement the Company assumed obligations to ensure the implementation of measures that will reduce pollutant emissions by 30 thousand tons into the atmosphere by 2024. Severstal reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending 31 December 2020 at 27,860Alt URL
/ref> Kt (-250 /-0.9% y-o-y). There is no evidence of a consistent declining trend as yet.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Severstal Companies listed on the Moscow Exchange Iron ore mining companies Mining companies of Russia Steel companies of Russia Steel companies of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Russian brands Companies based in Vologda Oblast Mining companies of the Soviet Union Severstal