We operate two coking plants through our wholly-owned subsidiary OKK. The two plants, Svoboda and Jan Sverma, are located in near proximity to our mines. The Svoboda plant produces both foundry and blast furnace coke primarily from coking coal from our mines, with the remainder imported from Poland.
Coke is produced by heating the coking coal in furnaces at temperatures of up to 1,200°C, to extract volatile components such as gases, and produce a highly efficient, high carbon fuel. Our steel customers use our blast furnace coke as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore in the process of making steel. Our foundry coke is used by the iron founding industry to melt pig iron that is then used to make iron castings. Traditionally, foundry coke commands higher prices in the market.
NWR is No. 1 producer of foundry coke in Europe.
In 2009 NWR produced 0.8 million tonnes of coke. External sales volumes of coke in 2009 were 0.7 million tonnes, consisting of approximately 45 per cent of blast furnace coke, 25 per cent of foundry coke and 30 per cent of other applications. Expected coke production for 2010 is 1 million tonnes and the expected split is 58 per cent blast furnace coke, 29 per cent foundry coke and 13 per cent other applications.
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COKE CUSTOMERS BY SALES VOLUMES
Year ended 31 December 2009
