Effective October 2007, the U.S. operating company, UCAR Carbon Company Inc., was renamed GrafTech International Holdings Inc. Those of you that have been around for awhile might remember that we were founded in 1886 as The National Carbon Company. Later we became the Carbon Products Division of Union Carbide Corporation. In 2002, the name of our parent company was changed to GrafTech International Ltd. Since then, the GrafTech name has become well-known and accepted by our customers and shareholders. You will still continue to receive the same quality UCAR® refractory products and services you have come to expect from us.

Severstal, located in Dearborn, Michigan, started a 100 day project on July 7, 2007. Blast furnace C rebuild, 3 stove relines and a new cast house were to be built. The entire cast house was built off site and rolled into place by trailers. GrafTech supplied UCAR® NMA HotPressed™ bricks and C34™ cement for the hearth wall, and the wall installation was completed in 11 days.

Furnace data:

The UCAR® refractory hearth lining that was replaced had lasted 16 years and the furnace had produced approximately 21M tons.

On December 20, 2006, Arcelor Mittal announced their acquisition of Mexican steel producer Sicartsa (Siderurgica Lazaro Cardenas - Las Truchas SA). The plant has one single blast furnace, named "Erendira" or #1.

• Hearth diameter: 9m
• Working Volume: 1 649m3
• Production: 2,2 tm3/day
• 2 tapholes, 180◦ apart

The furnace was last blown in 1998; the hearth was lined with large "super micro pore" carbon blocks with carbon ramming between the blocks and iron staves. In December 2006, it was expected that the blast furnace should be relined in 2012. That would have meant that this block hearth wall lining campaign would have lasted 14 years. In reality this is a result rarely achieved in the iron making world for this type of technology and a result never experienced without extraordinary campaign extending activities, e.g. ilmenite charging, productivity reductions, wall grouting, etc.

In June 2007, after approximately 8 years of operation, the furnace broke-out through the hearth wall. When requested, GrafTech was able to supply 170MT UCAR® Hot Pressed™ bricks in less than 6 weeks. The repaired blast furnace is now operating at full capacity, and refractory wall temperatures are as predicted with a UCAR® lining-low and stable temperatures all around the furnace hearth. This campaign is expected to last well beyond the 8 years of the earlier one. We wish to thank the Arcelor Mittal group for trusting GrafTech to deliver this critical equipment to their blast furnace.

The GrafTech refractory team in South Africa is reorganizing. Ms. Colette Coetzee is appointed Account Manager and is responsible for refractory sales on the African continent. Many of you already know Colette as she has been working with smelters in the region for several years, with the last 3 at GrafTech. Since joining GrafTech in 2004, Colette's technical knowledge of submerged arc furnace design and operation has helped GrafTech improve our designs and expand our coverage of the world's largest ferroalloy industry.

Piet Lamont is promoted to NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGER. For the past twelve years, Piet has been a key figure in the successful application of GrafTech refractory solutions to the ferroalloy industry in South Africa. The intent is to make the rest of the furnace industry benefit from his vast experience and the performance of the UCAR® FreezeLining™ in ferroalloy applications.

During the past 15 years, the UCAR® FreezeLining™ system has become the industry standard for FeMn and SiMn furnaces in South Africa. The first complete UCAR® FreezeLining™ system was installed in the 24MVA #M4 furnace at Metalloys (BHP Billiton) in 1996. This furnace has now been in operation for 11 years without any lining repairs. After this, eight additional UCAR linings have been installed at this location, including the large M12 furnace (81MVA). Metalloys, which is building a new 24MVA SiMn fce in 2008, continues to rely 100% on GrafTech for refractory lining supply to their SAFs.

BHP Billiton's Temco facility (Tasmania) has started the conversion to UCAR® linings: the #1 furnace has been in operation for 6 years, and the UCAR® lining in #3 was installed this summer. Based on the outstanding performance, UCAR® linings will be installed in #2 and #5 during the next two years.

At Assmang Manganese, GrafTech has installed linings in #1, #2 and #6 FeMn furnaces. The #5 installation was completed in October this year. We are hopeful that we will be allowed to supply the UCAR FreezeLining™ system to their #3 and #4 furnaces in the near future.

Transalloys, which was recently acquired by Russian Renova, will have its first UCAR® lining installed in their #6 furnace early 2008.

Empowered South African development company Kalagadi Manganese is working with Arcelor Mittal as a strategic partner in the first major greenfield manganese project in 30 years. This will include four new 63MVA submerged arc furnaces to be started up during 2009. We are hopeful that GrafTech will be selected to deliver the refractory furnace linings to all four furnaces.

Pirson Refractories, the European installation experts, and Graftech can provide all furnace operators a unique possibility in case of lining emergencies: