MECHEL ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF A NEW HIGH QUALITY AND STAINLESS STEEL PRODUCTION
COMPLEX BY THE RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER VLADIMIR PUTIN AT CHELYABINSK
METALLURGICAL PLANT

Moscow, Russia – July 23, 2010 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading
Russian mining and metals companies, announces that Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin launched a high quality and stainless steel production complex in
the arc-furnace melting shop #6 of Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant (CMP).
While launching the new production complex in the arc-furnace melting shop #6,
the Russian Prime Minister was accompanied by Igor Sechin, Vice Prime Minister,
Victor Khristenko, Minister of Industry and Trade, Nikolay Vinnichenko, the
Plenipotentiary of the President of Russian Federation in Ural Federal Region,
Mikhail Yurevich, Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, Igor Zyuzin, the Chairman
of the Board of Directors of Mechel OAO, Andrei Deineko, Chief Executive Officer
of Mechel Steel Management OOO, and Sergey Malyshev, Managing Director of CMP.
The Russian Prime Minister’s introduction to the plant started with a
presentation of CMP and the project for renovation of the arc-furnace melting
shop #6 which includes just-commissioned complex for production of high quality
and stainless steel. Sergey Malyshev, Managing Director of CMP, described
current situation at the plant, focusing on investment programs being
implemented as well as CMP’s capacities utilization level, which currently
exceeds precrisis levels by 10%.
Then the Prime Minister pushed the start button of the high quality and
stainless steel production complex. Mr. Putin examined production sites of the
three machines constituting the complex. Mechel’s management described the
production process of the two machines for out-of-furnace steel processing –
ladle furnace # 2 and vacuum degasser as well as the main machine of the complex
– slab concaster #2 that produced its first slab today.
Commissioning of the new complex would result in improvement of casted steel
quality, boost in annual output of slabs from 600 thousand tonnes to 1.2 million
tonnes, significant product range expansion and decrease in consumption of raw
materials and power. The new equipment will not only ensure better quality of
products but would also allow CMP to increase output of plates and coils of
corrosion-resistant steel grades, competing in quality with the products of the
leading European producers, after reconstruction of the plant’s rolling
facilities.
Investments in the project totaled 3.6 billion rubles.
Igor Zyuzin, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mechel OAO’s, commented
on the event: “Implementation of this project would allow CMP to start
production of new types of stainless flat long products used in the most
important industries of our country such as defence, transport machinery,
construction. At the present moment these products are not manufactured by
Russian metallurgical plants. Thus, commissioning of this new complex would
result in the decrease in the share of the imported products and complete
elimination of import in a number of product groups.”
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Mechel OAO
Ekaterina Videman
Tel: + 7 495 221 88 88
ekaterina.videman@mechel.com
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Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes four
segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy and power. Mechel unites producers of coal,
iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, ferrochrome, ferrosilicon, rolled products,
hardware, heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and
internationally.

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Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other
forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial
performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that
these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may
differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to
the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and
identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned
“Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our
Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among
others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and
synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the
ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of
developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment,
volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial
risk management and the impact of general business and global economic
conditions.