OAO TMK and Lhoist Group plans to launch a plant in the Sverdlovsk Region in 2015 to produce lime and associated products. Sverdlovsk Governor Alexander Misharin has met with representatives of the joint venture and promised them tax breaks. The initial production line is to be built at the Yuzhno-Mikhailovskoye limestone deposit in the Nizhnyaya Serga district. The companies plan to invest €50 million in the project. Lhoist will lead the project with a stake of 70%. TMK, the minority partner with 30%, is interested in supplies of flux lime for its steel production facilities.

OAO TMK and Lhoist Group have signed an agreement to set up a joint venture in Russia to create high-tech facilities to produce limestone and joint-cost goods. The companies' stakes in the project are 30% and 70% correspondingly. The investments in the project are estimated at about EUR 50 million.