Siberian Anthracite launched a 10-year investment programme targeting an increase in production to 9.5 million tons a year. At present, the company’s production capacity is to mine more than 5 million tonnes of ROM UHG anthracite. The company exports most of its production (85% in 2010), largely to customers in south-east Asia such as Hyundai Steel. Anthracite produced by the company is used mostly an input material for the steel-making process. It can be substituted for coke in blast furnaces, and is also used in pulverised coal injection and iron-ore sintering and pelletising, as well as production of electrodes. Siberian Anthracite is
Anthracite difficulty of igniting it. This was a particular concern in smelting iron using a blast furnace. With the invention of hot blast in 1828, which used waste heat to preheat combustion air, anthracite became a preferred fuel, accounting for 45% of US pig iron production within 15 years. Anthracite for iron smelting was later displaced by coke. From the late 19th century until the 1950s, anthracite was the most popular fuel for heating homes and other buildings in the northern US, until it was supplanted by oil-burning systems and more recently natural gas systems. Many large public buildings, such as