In order to support you better, we are now expanding our field and inside sales service. You will communicate with Becky Fuller when you contact our sales office, where she is now one of our Customer Service Representives.

Jim Peterson is our new Accounts Manager and will service our customers in North America, including Mexico.

Both bring several years of experience to their jobs and are valuable additions to our team!

This Mexican steel producer was founded in 1942. Presently, ArcelorMittal is a partial owner. AMSHA recently launched the Proyecto Fénix Program: "This is an operational efficiency plan intended to maximize the use of our installed capacity adding new facilities and state-of-the-art technologies. The goal is to increase our annual production to 4.75 million MT of liquid steel with an investment of more than US$ 800M. The project includes building a new blast furnace #6. It is expected to have an 8.4m hearth diameter, 22 tuyeres and two tap holes with a daily capacity of 4,000MT, BF 6 will produce 1.387M tons annually."

Early 2009 GrafTech will deliver a full hearth lining to BF #6, including HotPressed™ bricks, graphite and carbon bottom blocks. The-blow in is planned for the middle of 2009.

The plant has two more blast furnaces; #4 (WV 1152 m3) and #5 (WV 2219 m3). GrafTech HotPressed™ brick hearth linings were installed in these two furnaces in 1991 and 1994 respectively. These have offered trouble free and safe operation to AHMSA during all these years and based on this performance, GrafTech was selected to deliver this critical equipment to the new blast furnace #6.

On September 17, Graftech hosted a Refractory Lining Management Seminar for the entire Samancor Chrome (KERMAS) group as well as ceramic suppliers and installers in Meyerton, South Africa. The seminar was well attended by the three Samancor Chrome smelting plants namely Tubatse Ferrochrome, Ferrometals and Middelburg Ferrochrome. Speakers included Mr. Peter Duncanson (Sales Director Graftech Refractory Systems), Mr. Peter Sylven (Marketing Director Graftech Refractory Systems), Mr Piet Lamont (Director IRCI) and Mr. Steve Brisley (Calderys). The seminar was opened by Mr. Kosie Marx, Operations Mananger, Graftech South Africa. Topics included a general overview of Graftech Refractory Systems worldwide and the Graftech freeze lining concept. Tap hole maintenance was discussed in great detail. The seminar was arranged by Ms. Colette Coetzee, Account Manager for Graftech Refractory Systems in South Africa. Samancor Chrome operates a total of 14 ferrochrome furnaces. Of these, 11 are using the GrafTech ChillKote™ lining system. Our history with Samancor goes back to the early 2000's , when the first GrafTech lining was installed at #4 and #5 furnaces at Ferrometals. Tubatse installed ChillKote™ linings on all 6 of their furnaces. Middelburg FeCr installed a GrafTech lining on their #1 furnace during 2005. Tubatse FeCr initially employed "big block" technology with failures within the first few years of operation.

The above photograph features Mr. Kosie Marx, Operations Manager for the GrafTech South Africa plant in Meyerton delivering his introduction speech to the audience.

Now you can witness the graphite ramming material of the future expand before your eyes. This film will show you an abbreviated story on how this unique product can be used during installations in furnace refractory linings. SmartRepair® RP20 material expands up to 300% to fill voids following installation, is very easy to install, is "self healing" where refractory movement occurs and offers an excellent thermal conductivity that increases as SmartRam® material expands. This material is made in our Lawrenceburg, Tennessee plant and can be delivered directly from our warehouse or for larger quantities, within a short delivery time. Enjoy the movie! www.graftech.com

GrafTech is pleased to introduce the Hearth Calculator to our customers. When planning a reline or new furnace project, the Hearth Calculator will enable you to obtain a cost indication immediately. Speeding up the planning process and potentially reducing project cost, this web-based tool, now available on www.graftech.com, allows the project engineer, the furnace operator or the lining purchaser to enter the actual data for the blast furnace hearth in question (dimensions, number of tap holes, etc.) This results in an instant budgetary cost illustration for the GrafTech lining! The Hearth Calculator will present up-to-date prices for deliveries in 2009, as well as 2010. In addition, the Hearth Calculator user can easily depict how changing other parameters might impact the indicated cost. Try it here: Hearth Calculator

As we all know, there is more to the cost of your lining than the initial price paid. For more insights into the long-term value of your lining investment, please consult our Hearth Investment Financial Model paper!