MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

“Zestaponi Ferro-alloy Factory is a traditional Georgian production, which has been serving and strengthening country’s economy for many years, and this is especially important today, when the country is fighting a pandemic,” – the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development stated during her visit to the factory.

Natia Turnava visited the Zestaponi Ferro-alloy Factory together with the State Representative in the Imereti Region, Zviad Shalamberidze and attended the opening ceremony of the new furnace.

In the 4th workshop of the Georgian Manganese Ferro-alloy Factory, the overhaul of the 26-furnace has been completed and is already in operation. The furnace will produce 70 tons of additional products a day, which will increase the existing production volume up to at least 25000 tons, or by 10%. In addition, the new furnace is planned to produce products of 43 million USD a year. It took five months to complete the general works, with a total investment of over 2 million USD.

It is important that the new furnace, which has a capacity of 22,5 MW, the production process will be carried out in a semi-closed cycle. Consequently, during the metal release process, no harmful dust is emitted into environment. Furnace refractory of modern standards (cold-forming, with compressed paste) is a result of collaboration with one of the largest Norwegian companies in the world, Elkem Karbon As. Factory employees were fully involved in the furnace overhaul project. At the same time, the commissioning of the furnace generated additional 20 jobs.

According to the Minister of Economy, it is very important that despite the pandemic, the enterprise was strengthened and a new furnace was put into operation. Natia Turnava noted that, in general, Zestaponi Ferro-alloy Factory, account for almost 10% of the country’s exports of ferroalloys. Georgian Manganese employs about 5 000 people in the Imereti Region – in the cities of Zestaponi and Chiatura.