MECHEL ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW U.S.-BASED COAL PROCESSING PLANT

Keystone, West Virginia, USA – December 13, 2010 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one
of the leading Russian mining and steel companies, announces the launch of its
U.S.-based subsidiary Mechel Bluestone’s newest coal processing plant for
washing coal mined at the Keystone Operations near Keystone, West Virginia.
The K2 plant, worth 12 million dollars in investments, can process annually up
to 3 million tonnes of run-of-mine coal. Annual production volume at the first
stage is expected to exceed 1 million tonnes. The plant can efficiently recover
high-quality low-volatile coking coal from high reject material common to
thin-seam mining operations.
The launch will allow Mechel Bluestone to double its production of low-volatile
coking coal.
“The plant was built to meet all modern requirements, its every production
process is highly computerized, including computer-aided coal quality control.
The Keystone low-volatile metallurgical coal is of a very high quality and is in
great demand throughout the world. Our plans to step up coal production required
us to boost processing volumes as well,” said Boris Nikishichev, CEO of Mechel
Mining Management Company.
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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.