Temirtau, 2 November. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, on a working trip to the Karaganda region, rode the restored tram in Temirtau, toured the converter shop of the Qarmet plant and was briefed on the construction of two new coke batteries, the Akorda press service reported.
According to Akorda, the tram system was restored by Qarmet in 2024: more than one million rides have been made since then, 30 kilometres of track have been replaced or restored and eight new cars bought. The President rode along Respublika Avenue to the Inzhenernaya stop. The trams have electronic payment, and the ride is free for Qarmet employees and veterans. “Indeed, the tram for Temirtau is a link of times,” Tokayev said.
In the converter shop, which is described as the key link of Qarmet’s steelmaking, the President was shown how liquid iron from the blast furnace becomes steel and goes to continuous casting machines and rolling mills. Qarmet board chairman Andrey Lavrentyev reported growth in output and progress on the investment programme; since the company began work, more than 2.7 billion dollars has been invested, Akorda said. In 2024 converters No. 1 and No. 2 were overhauled with their shells replaced, and some processes are being switched to natural gas.
The project of coke batteries No. 8 and No. 9 was named the largest in scale. According to Akorda, construction of this size has not been carried out at the plant for several decades; the general technology partner is ACRE Coking & Refractory Engineering Consulting Corporation. The design capacity of the two batteries is 1.5 million tonnes of dry coke a year, with 54 ovens in each and chambers 7.6 metres high. The batteries will replace equipment from the 1960s and 1970s, with start-up planned for 2027. The project will form the basis of Kazakhstan’s first coal-chemical complex for deep processing of coking products.
What it means: Of the three sites shown to the President, two already work: the tram since 2024 and the shop after repairs. What is new in the briefing is the start-up date of the batteries (2027), their parameters and the announced coal-chemical complex.
Background: Tokayev visited the plant on 14 August 2024 and promised to come every year; Qarmet then reported projects worth more than 3.5 billion dollars, reported in 2024.
